The differences within the Congress over a possible tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) surfaced again on Monday. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday ruled out the need for any alliance with the “non-existent” AAP, but said the decision on tie-up would be taken by the high-command.
Amarinder, who met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi early in the day, said the AAP is non-existent in Punjab and “there is absolutely no need for the Congress in the State to go for an alliance with Arvind Kejriwal’s party”.
His reactions came after widespread speculation that there could be a Congress-AAP pre-poll alliance in Delhi and Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections. Delhi State unit chief of Congress Ajay Maken too is said to have resigned from his post presuming about the possible Congress-AAP alliance against his wishes. There are seven Lok Sabha seats from the national Capital all held by the BJP now and before that all the seats were held by the Congress.
The Punjab CM said the Congress’ State unit has already conveyed this view to the high-command, however, the matter was not discussed in his meeting with Rahul. Singh is learnt to have discussed a host of issues relating the State Government and the party in view of the upcoming national elections. He also congratulated Rahul Gandhi on the Congress’ victory in three States.
“The AAP has become defunct, with no identity now in Punjab, as against the situation prevailing in the last Lok Sabha elections. However, any decision on a coalition with the AAP or any other party would be taken by the Congress high-command, keeping in mind the national perspective and electoral compulsions and would be followed by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC),” Singh said talking to the media.
Exuding confidence that the Congress will win all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, he said the best and winnable candidates will be chosen by the party. However, there has been no discussion yet on selection of the candidates, he said.
On the issue of the Kartarpur corridor, Amarinder said while Pakistan has already started work on construction of the road on their side, development work is yet to start in the Indian side as the State Government has not received any funds from the Centre for acquiring land for building infrastructure.
Responding to another question, the Chief Minister clarified that he gave permission to his Cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu to visit Pakistan for the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor. “No Minister can leave without the Chief Minister’s approval,” Singh said, adding Sidhu wanted to go there in his personal capacity.