NEW DELHI: The AAP is neither open nor closed for any alliance with Congress but as the Congress is yet to reach any concrete decision over the alliance the AAP decided to announce all the candidates without any delay, asserted AAP Delhi Convenor Gopal Rai. He also said the party waited for long but could not afford to lose more time owing to "Congress' state of confusion" over an electoral alliance in the city.
Sources said the AAP was in talks with the Congress over seat-sharing but both the parties wanted to contest from the same seats due to which they could not reach a consensus. Moreover, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit has not been in favour of an alliance with the AAP but many leaders and workers in the Delhi Congress were in favour of the alliance.
Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit appeared to be isolated over the issue of alliance with AAP for Lok Sabha polls, as AICC in-charge PC Chacko on Friday claimed that "many" in the party were in favour of such up tie-up. He, however, said that a final call on the issue of alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi will be taken by the Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
In 2013, AAP received less votes than the BJP but briefly formed a government in a post-poll coalition with the Congress. In 2014, AAP improved to 33 per cent but the BJP jumped to 47 per cent and swept all 7 Lok Sabha seats. In 2015, AAP shot up to 54 per cent to sweep 67 of the 70 Assembly seats. In the 2017 Assembly elections, AAP remained at 24 per cent and won 20 seats to emerge principal Opposition against the Congress (38%, 77 seats) while SAD-BJP slipped to 29 per cent and 18 seats.