Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday said the key discussions on seat-sharing between his party and the AAP to fight the Lok Sabha elections together from Delhi will take place in the next meeting likely to be held on January 12.
Lovely said that no discussion on seat-sharing took place in the first meeting held on January 8 and added it was the first time that the Delhi Congress and the AAP came together for a discussion.
"No discussion on seat-sharing has taken place yet. Media reports stating the AAP offered three seats to the Congress is incorrect. The meeting held on December 8 was the first time we came together for a discussion and various strategies to fight the elections were discussed," Lovely said "Seat-sharing will most likely be discussed in the next meeting," he added.
Speaking about the media reports of AAP offering three seats to Congress, Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the speculation is "nowhere near truth". Bharadwaj, who was also present at the alliance meeting on January 8 at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik's residence, said, "All speculation appearing in the media are nowhere near truth. Our discussions are going in a very positive manner and efforts are on to make the alliance strong."
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) maintained its stand on contesting in an alliance with the Congress in five states, including Punjab, and the discussion has so far been positive, party's Delhi convener Gopal Rai said on Tuesday.
"Alliance talks have begun between the two parties. We kept our stand on contesting in an alliance in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat. Till now, there has been positive discussions," Rai said on the sidelines of a press conference. While talks for Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seat started, it was not clear whether there will be any collaboration in other states too. The AAP has also expressed its willingness to contest the Lok Sabha polls in states, such as Gujarat and Haryana and Goa, the source said. While the AAP wants to contest four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, the Congress is eager to field its nominees from the New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North East constituencies, they claimed.
The opposition parties of the INDIA bloc have decided to get together and contest the upcoming general elections together to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unitedly.