Dismissing the possibility of any poll alliance with Congress ahead of the Delhi election, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the party will be fighting this election on its own strength in Delhi.
AAP chief Kejriwal's response came amid speculations of the Congress and AAP being in the final stages of the seat-sharing agreement for an alliance. The Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled for February 2025, will determine the composition of the 70-member legislature, where AAP currently holds 62 seats.
Dismissing the possibility of any poll alliance with Congress ahead of the Delhi election, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the party will be fighting this election on its own strength in Delhi.
"Aam aadmi party will be fighting this election on its own strength in Delhi. There is no possibility of any alliance with congress", Kejriwal posted on X.
The former Delhi chief minister's reiteration came at a time when the grand old Congress party is reeling from electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. The AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015.
Kejriwal's response came amid speculations of the Congress and AAP being in the final stages of the seat-sharing agreement for an alliance where Congress could get 15 seats, 1-2 seats for other INDIA Alliance members while the rest of the 70 seats would go to AAP.
The recent buzz over the alliance was fuelled by cancellation of the Congress' 'Nyay Chaupal' event in which party leader Rahul Gandhi was to participate. The event was to be held as culmination of the "Nyay Yatra" taken out by the Delhi Congress across Delhi ahead of the assembly polls.
The elections are set to test AAP's governance record against the BJP’s attempts to expand its base in the capital.
The INDIA bloc, an alliance of 26 opposition parties, had hoped to unify anti-BJP votes in Delhi, but Kejriwal’s announcement signals a potential fracture in unity.
The decision of not forming an alliance with Congress made room for a triangular electoral battle in the Delhi assembly polls involving AAP, Congress, and BJP.
In the past two assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, AAP won 67 and 62 seats respectively, while the BJP secured three and eight seats in the 70-member legislature. The Congress drew a blank in both elections.
The AAP and Congress fought the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi together earlier this year but lost on all the seven seats against the BJP. However, they failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls in October despite several rounds of talks.