Doesn’t appear to be much scope for Congress-AAP alliance for polls in Haryana, Delhi: Jairam Ramesh

The grouping will fight together in states where Congress leaders and other alliance partners agree to such an understanding, he said.

There does not appear to be much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the assembly polls in Haryana and Delhi but the INDIA bloc will fight elections together in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said there is not much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the assembly polls in Haryana. (ANI)

In an interview with PTI, Ramesh said there is no one formula the INDIA bloc will follow for state elections. The grouping will fight together in states where Congress leaders and other alliance partners agree to such an understanding, he said.

Asked whether the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will fight the assembly polls together going forward, Ramesh said the alliance will do so in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

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“There is no INDIA ‘janbandhan’ in Punjab. In Haryana, we had given one seat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha polls but I don’t think that INDIA janbandhan will be there for assembly polls. In Delhi, the AAP itself has said that INDIA janbandhan will not be there for assembly polls,” Ramesh said.

The Congress and AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi, while they contested separately in Punjab.

Asked specifically as to whether there would be an alliance in Haryana and Delhi, Ramesh said, “There does not appear to be much scope (for alliance) in Delhi and Haryana.” Last month, AAP’s Delhi state convener Gopal Rai had said his party’s alliance with the Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections and hinted that the ruling party in the city will go solo in next year’s assembly polls here.

Ramesh asserted INDIA bloc partners are united in Parliament and augmented by the BJD in Rajya Sabha.

Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra are slated to go for polls later this year, while assembly elections in Delhi will be held early next year.