With the AAP and the Congress going public in asserting that they will not enter into an alliance, it is now NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has entered the scene to play the mediator, in what is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to forge a pre-poll alliance between the two parties in Delhi to take on the BJP, which holds all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital.
After a series of flip-flops between both the parties, sources said Congress Central leadership has started a rethink on the insistence of their alliance partners’ tallest leader Pawar, who met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge first and then AAP’s Sanjay Singh, also a Rajya Sabha member. The Maratha strongman had last month hosted a mega Opposition meeting that starred Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee.
Following Pawar’s mediation, Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit convened an urgent meeting with the three working presidents — Devender Yadav, Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia — of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), which had opposed an alliance with AAP. The leaders did not divulge any details and only stated that the meeting was over decision of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said Sheila met her party colleagues at her home to reconsider a tie-up with AAP — an idea that she has resisted vehemently so far. Sources said 13 former Congress district presidents have written a letter to party chief Rahul Gandhi asking for an alliance with the AAP.
Sheila, a three-time CM whose rule ended with AAP’s rise in Delhi, had on Monday warned in a letter to Rahul and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi that an alliance with the AAP will hurt the Congress in the long run. She had also urged the leadership to spell out its stand to avoid confusion among party workers.
While Sheila has strongly opposed a tie-up with the AAP, Congress incharge of Delhi PC Chacko made it clear on Tuesday that “Delhi leaders have to follow the Congress’ policy decision to go for alliances with parties opposed to the BJP”. Even after Pawar’s intervention, Sheila said she was against the alliance but will follow whatever the party leadership decides.
Congress had declined AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal for an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections and Rahul Gandhi too had said that the Delhi unit of the party was opposed to the idea and himself announced for a no alliance.
An internal survey of the Congress reportedly showed the BJP ahead of both AAP and Congress with 35 per cent of the vote share in the capital. The findings were shared with the Congress president.
“There was no talk of an alliance during the meeting. An urgent meeting was called and it was decided that the selection of candidates should begin,” said a working president, adding that there were around 70 applications received by the party from Delhi Congress leaders for seven seats in Delhi.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Delhi Congress PC Chacko said, “I am in consultation with Congress party leaders in Delhi on the possibilities of forging an alliance with AAP.
“The Congress Working Committee has decided to align with like-minded parties across the country to defeat the BJP in Lok Sabha elections. I hope Delhi Congress leaders also go by this sentiment and decide on an alliance with AAP, but a final decision will be taken by the Congress president very soon,” Chacko said.
