AAP 4, Cong 3: Parties set to seal poll pact for Delhi

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Rahul Gandhi with Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal during a meeting, at Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi in January.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is likely to contest four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and leave the remaining three to its ally, the Congress, as part of a seat-sharing agreement between the two INDIA bloc partners, people aware of the matter said on Thursday.

The pact – which is likely to be formally announced on Friday – will be the first such alliance between the two erstwhile rivals and the second big agreement clinched in the beleaguered Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) after an arrangement between the Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

As part of the pact, the Congress is also likely to offer two seats to the AAP in Gujarat — likely to be Bharuch and Bhavnagar — and one in Haryana, said the people quoted above, requesting anonymity. But indications that the Bharuch seat might go to the AAP triggered dissent in the Congress.

Citing the discussions between the two sides, a Congress leader said an agreement was reached on the seats to be contested by the two parties. The Congress may contest East Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North East Delhi seats, while the AAP may contest New Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi and North West Delhi seats, said a Congress leader.

All seven seats are currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2019, the Congress came second in five seats — East Delhi, West Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi and Chandani Chowk — and the AAP came second in two seats — North West Delhi and South Delhi.

Both parties declined to formally respond on the seat pact. “The talks are on and we are hopeful of closing the deal,” Delhi minister Atishi said.

She also alleged that the move was triggering a backlash from the BJP. “Since the news of discussions on an alliance between the AAP and Congress reaching final stages is circulating, AAP leaders have received messages that Kejriwal will be arrested if AAP enters into a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress,” she said.

“The Congress and the AAP are part of the INDIA alliance. The INDIA alliance will contest strongly not just in Delhi but across the country. The final decision will be announced soon,” said Congress Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely.

A second Delhi Congress leader said the 4-3 formula was final but there could be some changes to the seats contested by the two sides. A similar formula was proposed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2019 but talks collapsed.

The AAP is also set to fight from Gujarat’s Bharuch and its sitting lawmaker Chaitar Vasava is likely to be the candidate, said people aware of developments. Mumtaz Patel, the daughter of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s key aide Ahmed Patel, had announced her intent to fight from that seat and a section of the Congress also wanted her, but a senior party functionary involved in the negotiations said Mumtaz Patel will be accommodated in another position.

When the pact is sealed, it will cap weeks of tense negotiations between the erstwhile rivals. The AAP first came to power in Delhi riding an anti-Congress wave in 2013 with Arvind Kejriwal defeating then CM Shiela Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi.

Both sides formally discussed seat sharing for the first time on January 8. In that meeting, the AAP offered three seats to the Congress and demanded seats in Gujarat, Goa and Haryana. The Congress’s national alliance committee led by Mukul Wasnik told the AAP representatives that the alliance panel’s mandate was to discuss only Delhi seats.

Eleven days later, Kejriwal met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi at Kharge’s residence to give a fresh momentum to seat talks. The AAP later ruled out alliance in Punjab and threatened to fight alone in Delhi.

“The Congress has zero Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it has zero seats in Delhi assembly. Out of 250 wards, the Congress won only 9 seats in the (2022) MCD election,” AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said on February 13.

AAP has 62 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi assembly.

“Even on a merit basis, the Congress party does not deserve a single seat according to the available data. But only data is not important. As per the alliance dharma and out of respect, we are ready to offer one seat to the Congress,” Pathak had said.

At that time, the Congress had said seat talks are not conducted in press conferences.

“The Congress is the largest partner of the INDIA alliance and a committee is working on the finer details of seat-sharing. In 2019, the Congress came second on five of the seven seats while AAP was third on five of the seven seats. In this election, we have already started groundwork, and we are gearing up to put up an unprecedented show this year,” Lovely said at the time.

Kejriwal’s party is expected to get either Gurugram or Faridabad in Haryana and is likely to fight from Bharuch and Bhavnagar in Gujarat. The Congress is reluctant to give the AAP any seat in Goa and Assam. “We got three seats from the AAP. We are giving them three seats (2 in Gujarat, 1 in Haryana),” said a Congress leader involved in the discussions.

In Bharuch, Chaitar Vasava addressed a crowd on Thursday and said, “Today I have got some good news…I got a call from the state and national leaders and they told me that for Bharuch Lok Sabha elections, an alliance has been formed between AAP and the Congress. They told me that I have been chosen as their candidate. This is indeed very good news for all of us. As a candidate of the Congress-AAP alliance, I have come to seek your blessings and am going to travel from village to village. I am a small person and we have small workers and not big leaders with us. But the way the people have helped me win in Dediapada Vidhan sabha elections, I am sure you will help me win this Lok Sabha elections too.”

But Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal warned the party against the move. “If the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat is allotted to the AAP under the alliance in the next Lok Sabha elections, neither I nor the conscientious workers of the Congress party will support the candidate of the AAP party,” he tweeted.

The BJP dismissed the seat pact as irrelevant.

Delhi BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the AAP and Congress didn’t trust each other but were trying to ally due to fear of losing the elections.“There is a serious trust crisis between the Congress and AAP but despite that they are going to form an alliance is nothing but politics of opportunism,” he said.

In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, which had earlier announced it would fight all 42 seats alone, has reopened communication channels with the Congress. “We spoke even in the last week,” said a senior TMC leader. The TMC is willing to give two seats to the Congress in Bengal but wants a seat each in Assam and Meghalaya, said the leader quoted above.

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