Suspense over whether the Congress and AAP will form an alliance continued on Saturday with both sides claiming that the ball was in the other side’s court and refusing to call off talks.
AAP senior leader Manish Sisodia said the party would not form an alliance with the Congress just in Delhi. The Congress had said “no” to an alliance in Haryana, he added.
One of Delhi Congress’s three working presidents Haroon Yusuf said the party had “waited long enough” for a decision to be made by AAP and was preparing to contest the elections on its own.
“AAP was born fighting against the corruption of Congress and we will continue to fight corruption. But Modi-Amit Shah pair is dangerous for the country and that is why we got ready to form an alliance with Congress,” Mr. Sisodia said while addressing a press conference on Saturday.
“We were interested in allying with AAP because it seemed necessary to stop the Modi-Shah duo...we waited for a month-and-a-half, did not declare our own candidates or even commence our campaign in the city. Iss se badh kar kya saboot dein hum apni wafa ka? [What can be further proof of our faith/commitment to the proposed alliance?] But now time has run out. It is AAP’s choice,” Mr. Yusuf said.
AAP sources claimed a seat-sharing pact in Haryana was “even more important” than one in the Capital and was the only crease, which could not be ironed out by either side.
On the other hand, Congress sources claimed Haryana or any other State was “never” a part of the association proposed to it by AAP. The Congress was ready for alliance only in seven seats in Delhi but AAP initally asked for 33 seats across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Goa, and Chandigarh and later for 18 seats in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh. Also, AAP has already formed an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) for the 10 seats in Haryana, with latter fighting on seven seats.
On Saturday, Mr. Sisodia also said JJP leader Dushyant Chautala had agreed for a 7:2:1 alliance (7 Congress, 2 JJP, 1 AAP) in Haryana. Mr. Chautala had said on multiple occasions that JJP won’t form an alliance with Congress.
Meanwhile, AAP insiders claimed the “dilly-dallying” on the part of the party was leading to an “erosion of confidence” among its cadre. In fact, former AAP Rajouri MLA Jarnail Singh said he had conveyed to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal that he did not support the alliance at all.
“I had told him earlier this month that I won’t be part of the alliance. I joined AAP for alternative politics and not for this,” he said.
Mr. Singh added that he had fought to bring justice to 1984 anti-Sikh riots survivors and cannot support the Congress. “Recently in the UK, Rahul Gandhi said Congress was not responsible for the 1984 riots. If they are not even ready to accept their mistake, then their secularity is fake,” he said, adding that he would “not campaign for the election if the alliance happens”.
However, he did not comment on whether he would resign from AAP if it did.
Left to support AAP
CPI (M) leader Nilotpal Basu, at a joint press conference with AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, announced that the party will support AAP candidates in Delhi Lok Sabha election.
“In Delhi, we had taken a decision that we will help AAP candidates. We have not worked out on the details on it. But we will independently campaign in Delhi,” Mr. Basu said at the AAP headquarters.
