The Congress on Wednesday reached out to its workers for their view on whether the party should have a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections.
Using the party’s internal Shakti app, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Delhi, P.C. Chacko, sent out an audio message to over 50,000 workers.
Mr. Chacko’s automated voice message, spoken in Hindi, asks the workers whether the Congress should have an alliance with AAP to defeat the BJP.
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The workers are asked to either say ‘yes’ by pressing button one or reject the alliance by opting for the second button.
The latest move by the Congress comes after senior leaders, including former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) presidents, had rejected the idea of an alliance at a meeting with party chief Rahul Gandhi last week.
Divided opinionADVERTISEMENT
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Opinion, though, within the Delhi unit was divided. While former DPCC chief Ajay Maken — once a vocal critic of AAP government in Delhi — favoured a tie-up, present DPCC chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has opposed the move.
She asserted that the Congress was getting back its support base and a tie -up with AAP was not in the interest of the party.
However, a section of the senior Congress leaders believed that the move will help the BJP win all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
That’s why when former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi met Ms. Dikshit on March 9, it was being speculated that Ms. Gandhi has intervened in favour of an alliance. However, at an event of the Delhi Congress on Monday when Rahul Gandhi asked workers to ensure the party’s victory on all the seven Lok Sabha seat, the comment was being interpreted as the final comment on the issue. But with the prospect of the BJP making a clean sweep in Delhi because of a division in the anti-BJP votes, the party has renewed alliance efforts by reaching the workers directly.