Delhi Assembly Polls: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal rules out possibility of alliance with Congress

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday once again ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the Congress for the Delhi assembly polls, amid reports that the two parties could be jointly contesting the elections. In a post on X, Kejriwal said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be fighting the election on its own strength in Delhi.

"There is no possibility of any alliance with the Congress," the former Delhi chief minister said. His reaction comes amid media reports that the two parties were likely to have a tie-up for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls due in February.

Earlier this month also, Kejriwal had ruled out the possibility of the alliance between the AAP and the Congress for the Delhi elections. The recent buzz over the alliance between the two Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners was fuelled by cancellation of the Congress 'Nyay Chaupal' event scheduled on Wednesday in which party leader Rahul Gandhi was to participate.

The event was to be held as culmination of the "Nyay Yatra" taken out by the Delhi Congress across Delhi ahead of the assembly polls. Also, Kejriwal on Tuesday met NCP chief Sharad Pawar amid the rising demand in the INDIA block to appoint West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as head of the political grouping currently chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

However, neither Kejriwal nor AAP have so far commented on the discussions in the meeting.

These developments were seen as the Congress and AAP making their moves cautiously in view of the upcoming Delhi polls so that the future options remain open, sources said. The AAP and Congress fought the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi together earlier this year but lost on all the seven seats against the BJP. However, they failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls in October despite several rounds of talks.

The AAP has so far released two lists of its total 31 candidates so far. The list of remaining candidates is expected to come soon. Out of power in Delhi since 1998, the BJP is making all-out efforts to wrest power from the AAP.

In the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP won 67 and 62 seats and the BJP won three and eight seats respectively. The Congress drew a blank.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)

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