LS POLLS: AAP, Congress seal seat sharing deal in Delhi, Chandigarh and three states
Giving a major booster dosage to the Opposition’s INDIA alliance, the AAP and Congress after several rounds of discussions have finalised their seat-sharing formula for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Gujarat and Goa.
The two key constituents of the INDIA bloc – AAP and the Congress – announced their seat-sharing agreements here on Saturday for the coming Lok Sabha elections which are scheduled to be held in April-May.
The AAP will contest four Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and the Congress remaining three. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said that sidelining its own political interests, his party entered into an alliance with the Congress as it believes that the “country is important and the party secondary”.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri described the tie-up between the two parties an “opportunist alliance”.
In a joint press conference here, Congress leader Mukul Wasnik announced that the AAP will contest the New Delhi, the West Delhi, the South Delhi and the East Delhi seats, and Congress will field candidates in Chandni Chowk, the Northeast Delhi and the Northwest Delhi seats. Delhi’s Lok Sabha polls in the last two elections were swept by the ruling BJP which had emerged victorious on all the seven in the 2014 and the 2019 polls. In the last elections, BJP candidates in each of the seats polled more votes than Congress and AAP candidates combined. In Gujarat, the AAP will contest two of the 26 seats in the state -- Bharuch and Bhavnagar -- while the Congress will field candidates on the remaining 24, according to their seat-sharing arrangement.
The Congress will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa and the lone seat in Chandigarh, Wasnik said.
The AAP had earlier declared its Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas as its candidate for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Congress’ Francisco Sardinha.
In Haryana, the Congress will contest nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats while the AAP will field its candidate in Kurukshetra, Wasnik said.
He said Congress workers in Delhi will ensure that INDIA bloc candidates win all seven seats here.
The AAP and the Congress have mutually decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls on their own in Punjab, the parties announced as “special circumstances” exist in Punjab, the Congress leader said. Punjab sends 13 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
On the developments related to the Bharuch seat, the Congress leader said he hoped all Congress workers will respect the decision of giving the seat to AAP. Congress veteran and strategist Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal Patel had staked claim to contest from Bharuch, saying he and “conscientious” Congress workers will not support the AAP candidate.
AAP’s Chaitar Vasava will contest from Bharuch and Umeshbhai Makwana from Bhavnagar.
“After taking into account all situations and deliberations, we have decided this between the two parties. I have full confidence that each Congress worker will honour this decision and AAP workers will also follow this agreement,” Wasnik said.
Faisal in his latest reaction said Bharuch can be won only if a Congress candidate contests.
Stressing on a strong alliance, Pathak said the polls will be fought by the INDIA bloc with AAP and Congress candidates contesting on different seats. He alleged that the BJP was eliminating institutions in the country and sending opposition leaders to jail to win the polls. Farmers have also been treated unjustly and people are suffering from inflation and unemployment, Pathak charged.
“If the opportunist alliance between the AAP and the Congress even manages to survive its inherent contradictions it will be the most bizarre political combination in every sense. One that tries to pull wool over the eyes of their own voters,” BJP leader and Union Minister Puri said.
But the most curious part of this “dysfunctional dalliance - they will be together in Delhi, but against each other in Punjab!”, Puri added.
