Will win all 7 Lok Sabha seats from Delhi, says AAP
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claims that the Aam Aadmi Party will win all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in the upcoming general elections. There is speculation that the AAP will break away from the INDIA grouping. The BJP accuses the AAP of deceiving the Congress and says Kejriwal is not trustworthy.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will win all seven Lok Sabha seats on offer in the Capital during the upcoming general elections this year, setting political circles abuzz with speculation that the AAP would be the latest party to break away from the INDIA grouping, consisting of 27 parties.
Addressing a rally at Tarn Taran with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwat Mann, Kejriwal, who is also the AAP’s national convenor, said: “There are seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The people of Delhi have vowed that this time they would give all the seven seats to the AAP.”
Kejriwal also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “working overtime” to defame the AAP because “it is afraid” of the party.
“Today the BJP is scared of only one party and that is the AAP... Wherever we fight elections, we secure many votes. Today the BJP is in fear that if they (AAP) continue to grow like this, then there will be an AAP government at the Centre,” the Delhi CM said.
HT reached out to the AAP, but officials did not respond to queries about whether the party plans to go alone in the upcoming polls. However, Kejriwal’s remarks came a day after the AAP leader said that his party will contest the polls in Punjab on its own, and that it will announce candidates for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and the lone seat in Chandigarh within a fortnight.
The AAP has also announced that it will go it alone in Haryana’s assembly polls.
Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely did not comment on Sunday’s development. However, senior party leader Mukesh Sharma said the Congress will continue to fulfil its “gathbandhan dharma” (duty of coalition) as long as the alliance exists. He also said that it is the Congress — not the AAP — which is the “natural opponent” of the BJP in Delhi.
“We will defeat the BJP on all seven seats in Delhi. If there is an alliance, we will follow the gathbandhan dharma. If it (the alliance) doesn’t take place, the Congress is the natural opponent of BJP. Rahul Gandhi is conducting the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, and we are confident of defeating the BJP,” Sharma said.
The AAP and the Congress contested the recent Chandigarh mayoral polls together, but the two parties have not been able to agree on a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls in several states. The AAP has repeatedly stated that it is part of the INDIA bloc, but has expressed concern over the slow pace of seat sharing talks with the Congress, and has also unilaterally announced its Lok Sabha candidates in different states, including Assam and Gujarat.
The BJP, meanwhile, accused the AAP of “deceiving” the Congress, and alleged that Kejriwal is not trustworthy.
“Until yesterday, he (Kejriwal) was talking about an alliance with Congress for one or two seats, now he is claiming he will win all seven alone… BJP has been continuously saying since 2013 that he is not a trustworthy person… He is deceiving other parties such as the Congress in the name of the opposition grouping,” Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
Kejriwal’s remarks on Sunday came nearly a fortnight after the Janata Dal (United), led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, snapped ties with the INDIA bloc on January 28, joining hands with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) later that day.