New Delhi: Shutting the door firmly on any alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked his party’s workers to ensure victory in all seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections.
A day after the Election Commission announced the poll dates, Gandhi told booth level workers in the national capital: “Congress has to win all the 7 seats in Delhi. The booth level workers have to ensure it”.
Gandhi’s statement came after a Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit remark on the possibility of an alliance set off speculation that there may be a rethink on the part of the Congress.
When asked about a tie-up, Dikshit had said, there was “no alliance yet”. She said this after the AAP urged Rahul Gandhi to reconsider and take a decision about the seat-sharing with it considering the “national situation”.
But Rahul Gandhi was firm on Monday as he said there would be no tie-up and the Congress would contest on all seven seats alone. While the Congress high command had been open to the alliance earlier to achieve the larger goal of defeating the BJP, which had won all seven seats from Delhi in 2014.
The Congress had drawn a blank in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014. Surveys and polls done by both parties indicated that if the AAP and the Congress contest separately in Delhi, the BJP could sweep the Lok Sabha polls. But the Delhi unit remained firmly opposed to the partnership.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Gopal Rai said his party is not in talks with the Congress for an alliance in Delhi and it will contest all seven seats in the elections on its own. Rai said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting with all state unit chiefs of the party and MLAs to discuss the strategy.
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