NEW DELHI: The seat-sharing talks between the INDIA bloc parties have gained momentum on Friday with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) concluding its second round of discussion on seat sharing in Delhi and other states for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, leaders of INDIA bloc parties will be meeting over Zoom on Saturday morning to review seat-sharing talks and other issues. It was learnt that discussions would be held on appointing a convenor for the opposition alliance. Speculation was rife that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be considered for the post.
According to sources, the seat-sharing formula for Delhi has been sealed in the meeting between AAP and Congress leaders. As reported earlier, AAP has offered three Lok Sabha seats to Congress and it will contest four seats in the Parliament election. In 2019, the BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
Sources said that any alliance is unlikely in Punjab, where both the state units want to contest on their own. From the AAP side, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi attended the meeting, which was called by Congress’ National Alliance Committee chairman Mukul Wasnik. After the meeting, Congress leader Salman Khurshid told the media that they are hopeful of announcing a seat-sharing formula soon.
“We discussed everything under the sun. We have a very good chemistry, we shared open heartedly, we shared everything that we believed will make our bond stronger. It was a wonderful meeting, and we went much further than our expectations,” said Khurshid.
Though AAP ministers have asserted that the party is willing to have alliance with Congress in five states, sources said that a tie-up in Punjab is highly unlikely considering the fractious ties between the parties in the border state. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress secured eight of 13 seats while AAP had won only one seat. However, in the 2022 assembly polls, AAP swept the state.
In Gujarat, a final decision will be taken later, said a leader familiar with the developments. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has already announced Chaitar Vasava, jailed Gujarat MLA, as the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bharuch. The AAP is also eyeing one seat in Goa and three seats in Haryana as its vote share has increased in the recent assembly polls. However, Congress leaders from Haryana are unwilling to offer seats to AAP.
“The discussion on alliance is going on very well, but ball-by-ball commentary cannot be done on alliance talks,” said Chadha after the meeting. Though Congress leaders were scheduled to meet Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders on Friday evening, the meeting was cancelled later. According to sources, the Congress is also making aggressive overtures to the Bahujan Samajwadi party (BSP) to expand the alliance. It was learnt that top Congress leaders may visit BSP chief Mayawati on January 15, her birthday.
It was learnt that though SP leader Akhilesh Yadav was averse to any truce with BSP initially, he has also come around now. Meanwhile, the top leaders of INDIA parties will hold discussions on Saturday on strengthening the alliance, chalking out a strategy on seat-sharing and deciding whether to have a convenor for the grouping.
