In a significant political development, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday firmly ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections in February 2024. The announcement sets the stage for a highly competitive triangular contest, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AAP, and Congress all vying for the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly.
Kejriwal had clearly stated at a press conference, “No alliances will be forged in Delhi.” This statement came just a day after Devendra Yadav, president of the Delhi Congress, said that the Congress planned to contest the elections alone and also that the party had learned quite a few things from their partnership with AAP during the previous Lok Sabha elections, in which no party scored a victory.
Now the break in talks between AAP and Congress will only intensify the competition for Delhi’s political landscape. Both parties, in the opposition INDIA alliance, could not stitch an agreement on sharing the seats. Yadav’s remarks, therefore, show the churning in their relationship as Congress blamed the old alliance for their poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. For instance, AAP released its first list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls, including many prominent leaders who arrived from BJP and Congress.
Devendra Yadav’s comments flaunt Congress’s determination to stake claims to all 70 assembly seats independently, referring to the alliance with AAP as “detrimental” to party fortunes in the 2019 general elections. He was also critical of Kejriwal for making a “dictatorial” decision, which would be in contrast to Congress’s more democratic process.
It also emphasizes the extent to which AAP and Congress are still apart politically. While both parties managed to considerably narrow the margins by which the BJP prevailed,there is now going to be a split in opposition votes in the assembly polls, which will be advantageous to them. AAP and Congress failed to talk about seat-sharing for Haryana Assembly elections.
The BJP, eager to reclaim power in Delhi after losing consecutive assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, is preparing for a tough battle. In the last two assembly elections, AAP won a landslide victory, securing 67 and 62 seats, respectively, while Congress failed to secure any seats, and BJP was left with a handful. The upcoming elections will see a tough contest, with Congress planning to contest all 70 seats, AAP aiming to maintain its dominance, and the BJP making a concerted effort to break AAP’s stronghold on the capital.
With Delhi’s political future at stake, the decision by both AAP and Congress to go it alone will lead to a high-stakes, multi-party contest in the capital, keeping the voters’ decisions at the center of the battle in February 2024.
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