A day after Delhi Congress president Devendra Yadav hinted that the party will go solo, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal, on Sunday, announced that his party will not form an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled to take place in February. Kejriwal’s statement comes despite both parties being a part of the Opposition INDIA Bloc and having contested the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi together earlier this year. However, their joint effort yielded no results, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning all Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. Responding to a query during a press conference, Kejriwal made it clear, saying, “There will be no alliance in Delhi.”
This development is significant, as it clears the way for a triangular contest in the Delhi Assembly polls, with the AAP, Congress, and BJP vying for power. Kejriwal’s decision also comes on the back of major poll drubbing of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra this month, which Congress is also a part of, drawing criticism from its allies. The INDIA Bloc has adopted a flexible approach, contesting elections jointly in some states while going solo in others.
According to AAP insiders, Congress is a divided house in Delhi so there will not be any split in Muslim and Scheduled Caste voters. “Muslim will vote for AAP as they have no option. Similarly a large part of Scheduled Caste voters will vote for AAP. To further strengthen its vote bank, AAP has inducted stalwarts of Congress,” insiders say. Besides, the AAP strategy is focused on the Congress vote bank here.
The AAP and Congress had also attempted to form an alliance ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls in October but failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement despite multiple rounds of talks.
The Congress and AAP had contested the Lok Sabha Elections this year in Delhi in alliance with each other under the umbrella of the INDIA Bloc. Both parties had even campaigned for each other. Kejriwal, who was then out on interim bail for the election campaigning, had also campaigned for the Congress and had sought votes for its Opposition party (in the Delhi Assembly).
The AAP had contested on four seats while Congress contested in three seats out of seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. However, neither of the two parties could open their accounts, as the BJP swept all seven seats in the city.
However, in contrast to Delhi, the AAP had contested all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab on its own, ditching the Congress in the state. The AAP is in power in Punjab with a huge majority. In 2022 Assembly polls in Punjab, the Kejriwal-led party had swept the state winning 92 out of the 117 seats, dislodging Congress from power. Soon after Kejriwal’s major announcement, the BJP took a “friendship with benefits” jibe at the AAP and Congress and underlined the loopholes in the Opposition unity in the state and at the national level.
“In the Lok Sabha Elections, their relation was “Hum saath saath hain (we are together)”. Today, that relation has changed to “Hum aapke hain kaun (who am I to you?)”. There is no mission or vision in the INDIA Bloc, they only have a thirst for position and obsession for Modi,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.”
They fight in the states and show unity in Delhi. This is the same situation of the INDIA bloc everywhere, but they show friendship in Delhi. They have a system of friendship with benefits,” he added.
The internal assessment of the Congress suggests a potential threefold increase in its vote share-from around 5% in the 2020 Assembly elections to more than 15% in the upcoming elections. Of the 63 seats the AAP won in the last Assembly elections, 49 were secured with more than 50% of the votes, leaving only 14 seats where the victory margin was less than 50%. Even among these 14 seats, the party won 9 with more than 49% of the votes.
After the early selection of candidates by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for 11 Assembly seats in Delhi, party chief Arvind Kejriwal is reportedly working in full swing to retain at least 50 constituencies in the 70-seat Assembly. In 2020, the party swept the elections, winning 63 seats.