New Delhi: The prolonged brinkmanship between the AAP and Congress for alliance in seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi alludes to one basic fact: both parties are interested in tying up for the general elections.
That AAP decided to name its candidates months before — four of which were seen as dummies — was the first indication that the Delhi chief minister was keeping the door ajar to take on the BJP, which won in all seven seats in 2014.
On Sunday, the party announced the name of AAP candidate from West Delhi — Balbir Singh Jhakad — the only one remaining of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi for which candidates had not been announced. The move indicated that the AAP was no longer willing to wait indefinitely for the Congress to make up its mind on a possible alliance in Delhi.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who has been advocating the same even in his public meetings, announced a campaign for full statehood for Delhi on the 13th of this month, attempting to wrest the narrative in the city-state from the binary of pro- and anti-Modi narrative. The same day, Kejriwal sprang a surprise by publicly asking Rahul Gandhi to consider an alliance in Haryana. “I want to give a proposal to Rahul Gandhi that if JJP, Aam Aadmi Party and Congress fight the elections together in Haryana, we can defeat the BJP in all 10 seats. In Delhi, we don’t need their support.”
The AAP’s moves have come especially after Gandhi told booth-level workers in Delhi to ensure that the Congress wins all Lok Sabha seats here on March 11. Significantly, Gandhi re-iterated what he had told Kejriwal at NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s residence on February 13. Nudged by Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and Abdullah on the need for a pan-India alliance, the Congress chief had made it clear that his party’s interests had to be taken care of. The Congress has been a divided house with its Delhi chief Sheila Dikshit vehemently opposing any tie-up with the party that wiped out the grand old party in the 2015 polls. However, the party’s Delhi in-charge, PC Chako, has said the final call on the alliance will be taken by Gandhi.
Even though the AAP-Congress alliance talks in Delhi have come a cropper so far, the AAP has raised its stakes and is now looking at a possible understanding with the Congress not just in Delhi but neighbouring Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Goa. Negotiations with the Congress will hinge on the number of seats the grand old party will settle for in Delhi, which seats it will ask for and how many, if at all, it will concede to AAP in other states.
The AAP may concede more seats in Delhi only if the Congress gives way in Haryana and Chandigarh. Remember, in Delhi the AAP has 66 seats in the assembly, while the Congress has zero. Crucially then, talks would hinge on which seats or candidates the Congress would press for in Delhi.
There is Yoganand Shastri, who is believed to be close to top leaders in the Congress, Sajjan Kumar’s family or Mahabal Mishra from south Delhi. Sheila Dikshit or a candidate backed by her from East Delhi or North West Delhi, former Delhi chief Ajay Maken from New Delhi, Kapil Sibal — if he contests from Chandni Chowk — or Jai Prakash Agarwal or his family and Mukesh Sharma from West Delhi. In all the seven constituencies, the AAP’s campaign had already hit the ground since months. Of all the names, Dilip Pandey from North East Delhi, Raghav Chadha from South and Atishi have not just been the most robust but are also among the most loyal, young and articulate faces of the party. It may not be easy for AAP to let go of these. Pankaj Gupta from Chandi Chowk is a PAC member, while Brajesh Goyal from New Delhi and Guggan Singh from North West have been more low-key.
The AAP’s compulsion for an alliance has been driven by three important factors — the past arithmetic of vote share between the BJP, AAP and Congress, the stated aim of Kejriwal “to defeat the duo of Shah and Modi and save the country”, and consolidating the “minority vote”. The Congress, on the other hand, particularly after its wins in the three heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is veering towards strengthening its own party and not sacrificing its interests for the sake of alliances. Significantly, even after harsh words by both Kejriwal and Dikshit, the doors for an alliance still remain open.
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