AAP gives 48 hours to Congress for sealing Lok Sabha pact

NEW DELHI: The AAP on Tuesday announced that its candidates would start filing nominations from April 18, leaving just two days for the Congress to hammer out a pact for the Lok Sabha elections. 
Party insiders said the AAP will try to convince the Congress for a formula of 5:2 seats, if the alliance is limited to Delhi. On the other hand, the Congress insists no other option is acceptable, other than a 4:3 seat-sharing formula (four for the AAP and three for itself).  

In a meeting held at Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s residence on Tuesday, the AAP deputed its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh to negotiate alliance talks with the Congress leadership. Singh is in touch with AICC’s in-charge of Delhi unit PC Chacko for weeks.

The move comes a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi broached the subject of alliance with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party on social media which led to a war of words between the two sides.  As talks of a tie-up are not moving in ‘desired directions’, the Congress is focusing on finalising the names of candidates for East, South, and West Delhi, which were to be ceded to the AAP in case of an alliance.   

Last week, the Congress finalised four candidates — Jai Prakash Agrawal (Northeast Delhi), Ajay Maken (New Delhi), Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), and Rajkumar Chauhan (Northwest Delhi). The AAP has already announced its candidates for all seven seats.   

A senior Congress functionary said the list of all seven candidates could be announced in two days. “Congress president Rahul Gandhi has advised us to make best efforts for coalition and to go alone for the polls in Delhi if the results are not encouraging.”

In a meeting, the AAP decided to refrain from writing posts on social media. “It was decided that alliance talks should not be held on the social media. We will again approach the Congress and hope that it drops its ego of being a bigger party and listen to our reasoning. All the opposition parties want to stop the BJP from returning to power. We want to utilise our presence in three states for achieving this aim together with the Congress,” said AAP leader Gopal Rai.

Meanwhile, the Congress is already looking for a ‘Purvanchali celebrity’, who may be fielded from West Delhi due to the presence of a significant number of voters from the community. A senior Congress leader said Sheila Dikshit’s name was finalised for East Delhi in case a tie-up with the AAP does not materialise. Wrestler Sushil Kumar is likely to be the South Delhi candidate, said the leader.

“The 4:3 formula is not negotiable. We have explained to the AAP leaders the rationale behind it,” said the Congress leader.  The Congress wants to limit the alliance in Delhi alone by having three seats for itself while leaving four to the AAP.

But, Sanjay Singh said the Congress cannot be given more than two seats if it wants to have an alliance in Delhi alone. The AAP has declared dates for filing of nomination of its candidates on all seven seats. The nomination process concludes on April 23.

But, other seat-sharing formula remains
AAP sources say if the Congress wants alliance only in Delhi, then it has to be in the 5:2 formula and if an alliance is sealed for both Delhi and Haryana, then it is willing to go for 4:3 option in the national capital and a 6:3:1 arrangement in Haryana. In the 6:3:1 understanding, the Congress gets six seats, the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party have three and the AAP will contest on a single seat in the northern state