The Congress ruled out an alliance with its INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Delhi.
“There is no INDIA ‘janbandhan’ in Punjab. In Haryana, we had given one seat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha polls but I don’t think that INDIA ‘janbandhan’ will be there for assembly polls. In Delhi, the AAP itself has said that INDIA ‘janbandhan’ will not be there for assembly polls,” news agency PTI cited the Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh as saying.
Jharkhand, Haryana, and Maharashtra are slated to go to the polls later this year, while assembly elections in Delhi will be held early next year.
When asked specifically about alliances in Haryana and Delhi, Ramesh stated, “There is no scope (for alliance) in Delhi and Haryana.”
Last month, AAP leader Gopal Rai had clarified that the party’s alliance with Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections.
“The INDIA bloc was only for contesting the Lok Sabha polls. Several parties fought elections together, and AAP was also a part of it. As of now, there is no alliance for the Delhi Assembly polls,” he told PTI.
Earlier in June, Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav ruled out any alliance with AAP for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for 2025.
In an interview with The Wire, Yadav — who was appointed after former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the party and joined the BJP days before the elections– stated that the decision to ally with AAP was not a wrong one.
Yadav mentioned that the Congress cadre has become enthused after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, in which they won a total of 99 seats. When asked if an alliance with AAP is off the table, Yadav confirmed that Congress will go it alone in the Delhi assembly elections.
During the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Congress and AAP contested together. The Congress fought on three seats, while AAP contested on four. However, the alliance failed to secure a single seat in the capital.
A few days ago, a Congress leader blamed AAP for the alliance’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.
“I believe if we had not contested the elections with them, then Congress’ seats would have increased. Because of the Excise scam, the Congress suffered a loss in the Lok Sabha elections,” Congress leader Abhishek Dutt had told ANI.
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