AICC Delhi in-charge PC Chacko has had a tough time dealing with divisions in the State unit over an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Personally, he is in favour of a tie-up, but he wants the party high command to hear out both sides before taking a decision. BusinessLine spoke to Chacko on the various issues that were discussed as the party weighed its options.

Excerpts:

What is the party’s current position on alliance with AAP?

The Congress Working Committee has taken a decision to have an understanding or go for an alliance with parties that are opposed to the BJP. We want to bring together all anti-BJP forces in this election and Delhi is an ideal State for ensuring Opposing unity. Delhi may be a small State with just seven Lok Sabha seats, but as the capital, the fight here has political importance.

If there is a triangular fight between the AAP, the Congress and the BJP, in all likelihood, the BJP may win all the seven seats. The BJP is the biggest evil today and it is the duty of all democratic parties to come together and oppose the party. The AAP has come up with a respectable offer: a 50/50 sharing of the seven seats. Three for the Congress, three for AAP and one seat for a common candidate. After the last municipal elections, it is clear that our electoral base is 22– 23 per cent and AAP has around 27–28 per cent. Together, we have 50 per cent of the votes. If we look at the last seven elections, we can see that the BJP has a consistent 35 per cent vote share. So, if the Congress and AAP stand together, we can defeat the BJP.

But what is standing in the way?

The PCC president and some other leaders think that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not a dependable ally. Kejriwal’s rank and file also have the same kind of anti-Congress feeling. But he kept all that aside and is ready for a compromise. I have been telling PCC leaders that the question before us is how to defeat the BJP. For that we may have to enter an alliance with Kejriwal with all risks involved in it.

So, by when we can expect a decision?

Congress president Rahul Gandhi wanted to hear both sides. I took the senior leaders to him. We had two rounds of discussions in the last two weeks. Our core vote bank — minorities and Dalits— have shifted to AAP. I consulted more than 50,000 workers through the Shakti app. Met DCC leaders and councillors. There is an overwhelming support for an alliance. We will proceed once the Congress president takes his decision.

Isn’t it too late now particularly when AAP has announced its candidates?

Even now we can work out that. Of course it is late. But it is not too late. AAP has announced its their candidates. We also have to look for our candidates. Delaying is no good, but we have to respect different opinions within the party.

Who is holding the negotiations with AAP?

Political negotiations are done at different levels. Our senior leaders are interacting with various AAP representatives in an informal way. That is how we are collecting information from them. What is being published is different and what information we are getting from them are different. I am not dealing with it directly, but I have information that it is not too late. They are ready for an alliance. We have not gone into the details of seat-sharing but the offer from the AAP is still there. We think it is a reasonable offer and we can go ahead with that.

The negotiations are just limited to Delhi or will there be any understanding in Punjab and Haryana too?

My information is that it is limited to Delhi.

Revival of booths has been your priority in Delhi. Did you get any results so far?

We are trying to revive the party at the grassroots level. Our booth committees are our strength. The Congress President had launched a campaign, My Booth is My Pride. There has to be 25 to 30 people to manage a booth. No election is fought at the national level or at the State level. It is fought at the booth level. We did not give much attention to the booth committees in Delhi since we were winning the elections before AAP came into the scene. When I took charge, I requested all leaders in the State to pay attention to the activities at the booth level. There are 12,600 booths in Delhi, and out of these, we have 90 per cent of the committees working now. I have 32 to 50 workers in every booth with office-bearers in each committee. So the party in Delhi is prepared to face any challenges. Rahul Gandhi addressed 9,000 booth presidents from Delhi recently. We are sending ou giving a message to other States also that the booth committees communities should be well organised. So, no matter whether we are going for an alliance or if we are going alone, a strong booth committee will help us to have a correct understanding of our vote base.

Isn’t the BJP too consolidating in a similar fashionit the same way the BJP also consolidating its ground?

For the BJP, this ground-level work is done by the RSS. The RSS claims that it is a non-political organisation but it has instructed its cadre to go to houses and campaign for the BJP. the RSS pays its cadre for this work. Ours is a voluntary work; we get public sympathy and care than that of the RSS cadre. We depend on our cadre. There is no outside interference. The Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh results have proved that Congress workers can fight the mighty Sangh Parivar even in within the most adverse scenario. Particularly in Chhattisgarh, because of a strong booth level mechanism, we could get a very satisfying result when compared to the results in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. At macro level too, the Congress has an edge this time. The BJP came to power offering many things. But after coming to power, it they did not implement even a single promise. Voters are intelligent enough to understand this.

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