President of the Lok Satta Party Jayprakash Narayan said negotiations were underway for “collaborating” with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the coming elections to the Lok Sabha, but denied speculations about a merger move.
“Negotiations are underway for collaboration. Such collaboration is necessary in the interest of the country,” Dr. Narayan said in a telephonic conversation on Wednesday. But the Lok Satta would not merge with any party.
Though the Lok Satta Party acknowledged AAP’s “clean politics,” there were still areas of differences, particularly on the economic front, Dr. Narayan said. But, discussions were continuing as “we have to work together.”
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AAP spokesperson in Bangalore Rohit Ranjan said his party’s performance in the Delhi elections had generated immense goodwill among the people across the country. Their leader Arvind Kejriwal had given a call to like-minded parties and organisations to join hands with them. He did not rule out the possibility of the Lok Satta Party joining forces with AAP for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Mr. Ravikrishna Reddy, Lok Satta Party’s working committee member for Karnataka, said there was “no political space” for two like-minded parties like the Lok Satta Party and AAP to contest separately. The Lok Satta Party, which had already entered the poll fray in Karnataka in the recently held Assembly elections by fielding honest candidates, could be an electoral asset for the AAP in the coming Lok Sabha polls.