The meeting at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s residence on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was a stormy affair with Sheila Dikshit and Ajay Maken exchanging sharp views about it.
Once a vocal critic of AAP in Delhi, former DPCC chief Maken strongly supported an alliance between the two parties to avoid a split in the anti-BJP vote in Delhi. He argued that a triangular contest will help the BJP sweep all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
At this point, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit countered Mr. Maken and asserted that the Congress would do well as its supporters are now coming back to the party fold.
Dikshit’s son
She is learnt to have pointed out that the Delhi Assembly elections would be held eights months after the Lok Sabha polls and a Congress-AAP tie-up would damage the party in the long run.
Mr. Maken, who was replaced by Ms. Dikshit recently, also asked if former Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi, Sandeep Dikshit, would be a candidate without an alliance.
When the DPCC chief said she wasn’t sure of Mr. Dikshit’s plans, Mr. Maken is learnt to have said why should other leaders contest if the DPCC chief’s son is shying away from contesting the elections without a Congress-AAP alliance.
Mr. Maken is a contender from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency from the Congress and an alliance with the AAP would have brightened his prospects.
“It seemed like a role reversal as Makenji was pitching for an alliance and Sheilaji was talking about going it alone,” said a member who was part of the meeting at Mr. Gandhi’s residence.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge P.C. Chacko, too, favoured an alliance with AAP to put up a formidable challenge to the BJP.
Other leaders
Mr. Gandhi then asked the other members, including former DPCC chiefs Arvinder Singh, Subhash Chopra and former Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shashtri, to speak to get their opinion on the matter.
When the majority opinion among the 10 leaders, who attended the meeting, was against an alliance, Mr. Gandhi told his colleagues that he will not interfere with their decision and asked Ms. Dikshit to make the decision public.