The Aam Aadmi Party will support a Congress Prime Minister if it “has to”, AAP Okhla MLA and Delhi Waqf Board chairperson Amanatullah Khan told a gathering of imams from the Capital’s mosques on Wednesday.

“I met some people outside who said they will vote for the Congress as the PM candidate will be from the Congress. We are saying if the PM ends up being theirs [Congress], we will give support,” Mr. Khan said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was also at the event, said that the AAP would support “any PM” other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

With Lok Sabha elections expected in a few months, Mr. Kejriwal told the imams that the AAP would be able to defeat the BJP in the seven seats in Delhi. He, however, added that a split of votes between the AAP and the Congress would benefit the BJP. He urged the imams to understand this and “tell as many people” as they can.

National-level alliance

While there had been talks between the AAP and the Congress over a potential alliance for the Lok Sabha elections, AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai had announced last week that the party would contest the seats in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana on its own.

However, Mr. Kejriwal, the AAP national convener, has not ruled out the party’s participation in a national-level anti-BJP alliance.

“Do not get into the trap of who will become the Prime Minister... We will support whoever defeats Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

He reiterated his earlier public statements that the upcoming elections were about “defeating Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah”, and added that if the two leaders win the 2019 elections, the BJP government could “break the country into pieces”.

Salary hike

Meanwhile, announcing the Waqf Board’s decision to hike the salaries of imams and muajjins (those who announce namaz), Mr. Khan said the hiked salaries would be paid in February. The salary of an imam was raised from ₹10,000 a month to ₹18,000 a month.