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The Congress has not closed its door for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the matter of an alliance in Delhi. As the last date for withdrawing nominations ends on Friday, the Grand Old Party has claimed it will withdraw four of its candidates, including former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, if the AAP agrees for contesting four out of the seven seats in the alliance.
All the seven candidates of the Congress and the AAP have filed nominations. The last day for filing was on Tuesday. The scrutiny took place on Wednesday and the last date for withdrawal is on Friday. The Congress hopes to reach in an understanding either on Thursday or Friday.
Congress candidates
Apart from Dikshit, former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, former Delhi Congress presidents Jai Prakash Agarwal and Ajay Maken, Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia, former MP Mahabal Mishra, and boxer Vijender Singh have filed their papers.
From the AAP, Balbir Singh Jakhar had filed his nomination from West-Delhi. Pankaj Gupta, Raghav Chadha, Atishi, Brijesh Goyal, Dilip Pandey and Gugan Singh are the other candidates of the ruling party.
The Congress claims it is ready for a compromise. Rahul Gandhi had said in an interview that an alliance will be possible in Delhi if the AAP stops insisting for an understanding in Haryana.
A senior Congress leader said: “We are still ready for a 4-3 formula in Delhi. The Congress President had made this offer much earlier. Now it’s up to the AAP to take a final decision.”
He, however, added that the party has not made any new offers to the AAP. “If they are willing for an alliance, we are ready to withdraw four of our candidates,” the leader added.
However, the AAP has started the campaign in full swing. The party held massive road shows on Monday as their candidates filed nominations. The AAP is confident of exploiting the problems within the BJP to its benefit.
BJP MP joins Cong
Meanwhile, BJP’s North-West Delhi MP Udit Raj joined the Congress after resigning from the primary membership of the BJP. Inviting him to the fold, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said attacks against Dalits were rampant in the last five years of the BJP regime.
“Political apathy, social oppression, economic negligence... have become the trademark of Modi government’s policies in the past five years,” Surjewala alleged.
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