Aam Admi Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said today that the Congress is helping the Bharatiya Janata Party by splitting the anti-BJP vote. He even spoke of “rumours” that the “Congress has some secret understanding with the BJP”.
Earlier in the day, former Delhi CM, Congress’ Sheila Dixit announced that there will be no alliance with AAP in the coming Lok Sabha elections. After a meeting with the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Dixit stated that the proposal was “unanimously” turned down by the Congress. Adding that the Congress would contest “alone” in all the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats and “win” them, the former Delhi CM stated that Rahul Gandhi had “accepted the decision”.
Right after Dixit’s announcement however, came Arvind Kejriwal’s bombshell in the form of this tweet: “At a time when the whole country wants to defeat Modi-Shah duo, Cong is helping BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. Rumours r that Cong has some secret understanding wid BJP. Delhi is ready to fight against Cong-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance.”
There were recent reports that the AAP was willing to get into a pre-poll alliance with the Congress by offering them two seats in Delhi. But the Congress was keen on three seats, it was being said. Seat sharing in Haryana and Punjab was also on the agenda.
This development gave much hope to the Opposition parties that are keen on drawing up an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The AAP has recently announced its candidates for six of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi noting that the chances of an alliance with the Congress had not worked out. Kejriwal had even stated that he was “fed up” with the way things were playing out with the Congress.
However, after the two-hour meeting attended by Rahul Gandhi, Sheila Dixit, Ajay Maken and other leaders of the state, the doors are now shut on any alliance formation in Delhi between the Congress and the AAP.
Worse, Kejriwal’s allegations about an “unholy alliance” between the BJP and the Congress has made matters worse.
There had been recent reports that the AAP and the top Congress leadership has been keen on a rethink strategy in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack and air strikes by the Indian Air Force in Balakot.
Opposition leaders have been trying to forge pre-poll alliances to fight the BJP in the forthcoming elections who have pitched their campaign around nationalism and national security.
To unite the opposition into a pre-poll alliance, Opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) head MK Stalin, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and NCP chief Sharad Pawar have expressed interest in joining forces against the BJP and its allies in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Delhi has seven Lok Sabha seats which were won by the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections. The AAP however, has considerable hold over Delhi as the last Assembly elections had been swept by the party. But now, the absence of an alliance — and allegations of a BJP-Congress alliance — could affect the unity agenda and have a bearing on the poll results feel the opposition leaders.
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