The fate of the much anticipated AAP and Congress alliance in Delhi was sealed on Tuesday with the Delhi Congress unit saying they don’t want a pact with the Arvind Kejriwal led outfit.
The Delhi Congress leaders met party president Rahul Gandhi this morning and conveyed to him that they are against an alliance.
Ten state Congress leaders led by Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit met Gandhi and conveyed this majority decision on “no alliance with AAP” to Rahul Gandhi.
Sheila Dikshit said: “A unanimous decision has been taken that there will be no alliance in Delhi.”
Gandhi said he would abide by the decision of the state unit.
Importantly AICC in-charge for Delhi PC Chacko was in favour of an alliance to defeat the BJP but the majority state leaders said Kejriwal was an unreliable ally and the party must set its eyes on the year end state polls.
At a time when the whole country wants to defeat Modi- Shah duo, Cong is helping BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. Rumours r that Cong has some secret understanding wid BJP. Delhi is ready to fight against Cong-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance. https://t.co/JUsYMjxCxy
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 5, 2019
The decision will be a setback to opposition’s national plans to forge state specific anti BJP pacts, something the Congress itself suggested earlier.
Chacko said, “My opinion as General Secretary in charge was to have an alliance to defeat the BJP. By not having a pact we will divide the votes and our strategy should be to defeat the BJP but most star leaders thought Congress must go alone to survive in the next state polls. There’s some wisdom in that opinion also.”
After Dikshit’s statement, Kejriwal claimed there were "rumours" that the Congress had a "secret understanding" with the BJP.
"At a time when the whole country wants to defeat Modi-Shah duo, Cong is helping BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. Rumours r that Cong has some secret understanding wid BJP," he tweeted. "Delhi is ready to fight against Cong-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance."
Kejriwal's comments came in response to the Congress' announcement that it will not form an alliance with the AAP in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.