New Delhi: In a major setback to the Opposition INDIA bloc, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has dismissed any possibility of an alliance between his party and the Congress for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections in February.
“There will be no alliance in Delhi,” Mr Kejriwal told reporters in response to a question about the speculation on his party’s seat-sharing talks with the Congress.
The AAP chief’s assertion comes two days after Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said his party would contest all 70 seats in the national capital without any alliance. Mr Yadav has already been holding padayatras against the “misgovernance” of the AAP government.
Mr Yadav was insisting that there was no point for the Congress to carry the “weight of anti-incumbency” that the AAP is facing by entering into an alliance. He termed the tie-up between the two parties in the recent Lok Sabha polls as a “mistake”.
The AAP and the Congress, who are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, had contested the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi together this year, but failed to win any seat. The BJP retained all seven seats in the capital. The only positive impact that the AAP-Congress alliance had was that it brought down the victory margins of the BJP in all seven seats.
This is not the first time that the AAP has thumbed its nose at the alliance. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mr Kejriwal had also ruled out a tie-up with the Congress in Punjab and said his party would contest all 13 seats on its own. The two parties had also failed to reach a seat-sharing arrangement for the recent Assembly polls in neighbouring Haryana.
Having been in power in Delhi since 2015, the AAP is now set to have a direct fight against the BJP, the main Opposition, in the upcoming contest for all the Assembly seats.
The AAP is now vying for a third consecutive term in the backdrop of its two successive resounding victories in Delhi, in which it had bagged 67 and 62 seats respectively in the 70-member Assembly. The BJP, on the other hand, which had won three seats in 2015 and eight in 2020 polls, is also aiming for a comeback in Delhi after 25 years.
The Congress, which faced a humiliating defeat in the last two Assembly polls by not securing even a single seat even after ruling the city for 15 consecutive years under the leadership of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, hopes to regain its vote-bank in some minority-dominated areas, which it had lost to the AAP in the previous polls.
In 2022, the AAP had dislodged the Congress from power in Punjab as well. In Gujarat last year, it won five seats and pocketed a vote share of about 14 per cent as the Congress’ share further went down. In Goa, too, the AAP made inroads at the Congress’ expense.
In Delhi, the AAP has started focusing on micro-level meetings to communicate its key electoral promises to voters. These promises include free electricity, water, healthcare, education, pilgrimage for the elderly, and bus rides for women. The AAP is also organising over 50,000 meetings across the city as part of the “Revdi Par Charcha” campaign. These micro meetings will eventually lead to larger gatherings where the party will highlight other issues, such as the deteriorating law and order situation and the BJP’s role in obstructing various welfare schemes.
Mr Kejriwal, who recently quit as chief minister, has been out on the campaign trail for the past couple of months. He himself has been holding padayatras across the city highlighting the AAP government’s achievements and flagship schemes. He has also been targeting the BJP-led Central government, accusing it of inaction on law-and-order issues in the capital. The Delhi police is under the direct control of the Union home ministry.
The AAP has also taken a lead from the BJP and the Congress by announcing the names of 11 candidates. In the first list, the AAP gave tickets to six turncoats, three each from the BJP and the Congress, indicating that the party was ready to reward leaders who were ready to join it from the rival political outfits.
A senior AAP leader said the selection of candidates was crucial this time, as several current MLAs are vying for second and third terms. Additionally, the AAP is intensifying its grassroots campaign to ensure that every woman in Delhi understands the positive impact of the Arvind Kejriwal government’s freebies.
