The announcement came after party president Rahul Gandhi met with senior party leaders of the Delhi unit.
Senior Congress leader and former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday put to end months of speculation and said that the party is not going ahead with an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement came after party president Rahul Gandhi met with senior party leaders of the Delhi unit.
"There will be no alliance with AAP. The decision was taken unanimously," said Dikshit after the meeting.
A senior Delhi Congress leader said that both the parties were unwilling to let go of seats. AAP has agreed to give up only two seats to the Congress, leaving aside one for a common candidate, which is likely to be Yashwant Sinha. The Congress is unwilling to settle down for only two seats.
In the meeting held within Congress party leaders, Dikshit informed Gandhi that the party's cadre is averse to an alliance. Gandhi is said to have assured her that he will stand by her decision. It was, however, Ajay Maken, former DPCC president, who suggested that the party go through an alliance.
Maken had stepped down as the state unit president in January this year amid speculations that he was angry with an alliance with AAP. The party had then said that Maken is afflicted by a debilitating ailment leading to him giving up his position.
While the decision to not have an alliance with AAP is more or less sealed, the party's core committee in its next meeting will take a formal decision on the alliance as well as Congress's other alliances.
An angry AAP president, Arvind Kejriwal, took to Twitter to slam the Congress. "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 (sic)," read Delhi CM's tweet.
Congress leaders also said that AAP wanted to seal seat-sharing deal in Punjab and Haryana. While it wanted to retain the four seats it had won in Punjab, in Haryana, a deal was being worked out, though no formal conversation had taken place.
Brokering A Deal
Congress said that AAP wanted to seal seat-sharing deal in Punjab and Haryana. While it wanted to retain the four seats it had won in Punjab, in Haryana, a deal was being worked out
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