With talks of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming parliamentary elections hitting another roadblock, the Delhi Congress has begun executing plan-B — readying its list of candidates.
The Aam Aadmi Party , meanwhile, is likely to file nominations of its candidates from Thursday.
Senior Congress party leaders said that the party could not keep its Lok Sabha election preparation on hold with just four days left for the last day to file nominations.
The party’s chief election committee (CEC) had finalised the candidates from four of the seven seats in Delhi last week.
Read | Congress wants Delhi-only tie-up, says AAP as it calls off alliance talks
Former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken is slated to contest from New Delhi, Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, JP Agarwal from Northeast Delhi and Raj Kumar Chauhan from NorthWest Delhi.
However, the party is yet to make a formal announcement.
{{/usCountry}}However, the party is yet to make a formal announcement.
{{/usCountry}}Also, candidates to the East, West and South Delhi segments are yet to be finalised
“Talks are on with AAP leaders but with the fate of the alliance wavering every day, we cannot completely bank on them. We are simultaneously finalising on strong candidates to field from our party, who with or without an alliance can win these elections,” a senior Congress leader said on Wednesday.
Congress’s Delhi in-charge PC Chacko and state president Sheila Dikshit met on Wednesday to discuss the names for the remaining three seats.
“Things are not moving forward on the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party . How long can we wait for? There isn’t much time left. The last date for filing nominations is almost here,” Chacko said on Wednesday.
Senior party leaders privy to the developments said that in case the alliance does not work out, Dikshit, a three-time chief minister of Delhi, is likely to contest from East Delhi, while senior leader Mahabal Mishra, a Purvanchali, is likely to be the party’s face from West Delhi.
Mishra had won the West Delhi seat in 2009 but lost the next election to Bharatiya Janata Party ’s (BJP’s) Parvesh Verma. Dikshit had contested from the East Delhi parliamentary segment in 1998 and lost to BJP’s Lal Bihari Tiwari.
Olympic silver medal winner, wrestler Sushil Kumar is the party’s likely choice from South Delhi.
“Sushil wanted to fight the elections from West Delhi because his native village is in Najafgarh and he has also done a lot of social work in the area. But we also need a Purvanchali face and Sushil’s celebrity status will resonate with the youth in South Delhi,” another Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, said.
He said that in case the alliance does not work out with the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress is likely to announce their candidate list during the weekend.