Top Stories

To AAP or not to AAP? Delhi Congress waits for high command cues, party divided in Punjab

September 18, 2023
Bharat Times

At the two-day Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held over the weekend in Hyderabad, leaders of the Delhi and Punjab Congress raised concerns about a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the general elections next year. While Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely has said the matter is up to the high command, a section of the state leadership believes an alliance is a “done deal”. But in Punjab, the divide in the party is more sharper.

According to sources, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has told the CWC that alliances and seat-sharing will be discussed later and assured the committee that such decisions will be taken after consultations with state units.

On Saturday, the first day of the CWC meeting, Janata Dal (United) leader K C Tyagi set political circles abuzz with his comments in Chandigarh. Tyagi said he had spoken to Arvind Kejriwal and claimed that the Delhi Chief Minister “is ready to have an alliance with Indian National Congress party for elections in Delhi”. Tyagi made this statement at a press conference he addressed along with the Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Chautala.

“There is slight trouble with the AAP in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. But, I would only like to mention that BJP has all 10 seats (in Haryana), if we want to defeat them, there should be the INLD and AAP too. I spoke with Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, he is ready to go with the Congress. I would also like to request the Congress that it should also take the initiative and have a large heart. I only spoke with him about Delhi. He (Arvind Kejriwal) is ready to have an alliance with the Congress in Delhi.”

When asked about Tyagi’s comments, Delhi Congress chief Lovely said the party’s central leadership will take the final call. “All I can say as the president of the party’s Delhi unit is that my duty is to strengthen it in the city; the decision regarding the alliance rests with the high command. The views of the party’s workers have been taken on it (an alliance with the AAP) and whether we proceed with it or not is for the high command to decide. We as Congress workers will abide by the decision they take,” Lovely told The Indian Express.

At the CWC meeting, Lovely did not vociferously voice concerns about a tie-up with the AAP unlike his Delhi Congress colleagues Ajay Maken and Alka Lamba, and Punjab Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, who came out vehemently against any such alliance.

Sources in the Congress believe that an alliance with the AAP — in the national capital at least — is more or less a “done deal”, with the senior state leadership having underlined that it is the need of the hour.

According to a senior Delhi Congress leader, many partymen who “directly bore the brunt” of the AAP’s rapid rise in the metropolis continue to smart from, what they call, the “insults and propaganda” the AAP employed to claw its way to the top. These leaders were waiting for the high command’s instructions, the functionary added.

“The need of the hour is forging a joint front against the BJP but it is also a question of how far we are willing to go to accommodate the AAP whether in Delhi or Punjab or states where they have no base but still want to contest and may end up splitting Congress votes,” said another leader.

The functionary added, “In addition to the high command’s decision, a lot will depend on how the Congress does in the coming Assembly elections in several states. As far as Delhi is concerned, let’s see what the top leadership decides. For the time being, the instructions are to ensure and display, as much as possible, a joint front consisting of all Congress leaders from the city. Keeping it that way in case there is an alliance with the AAP is the main challenge that Lovely faces.”

Last Thursday, Lovely took formal charge of his post alongside a show of strength and a substantial gathering of senior Congress leaders and workers, which included several frontrunners for the post, at the party’s state headquarters. He announced the resurgence of the party in the capital as his chief aim. This, according to a senior leader, was most representative of how the party views the AAP, at least for the time being — more a partner for a larger cause and less an ally.

“As things stand, the party’s objective is to resurrect itself in the capital, whether or not there is an alliance with the AAP is immaterial. The objective is to bring the party back to the position of eminence it used to be in and that can only be achieved by strengthening it from the bottom up,” said a senior leader.

Most Read

1
Ridhi Dogra says it’s ‘unfortunate to play’ Shah Rukh Khan’s mother in Jawan: ‘He told me many times…’
2
‘Selling a false dream’: Indian students abroad open up about mental health issues

The AAP chose to play its cards close to the chest but, like Lovely, did not rule out the possibility. A senior AAP leader said tie-ups with the INDIA parties were an obvious outcome but their contours had yet to be worked out. “If we are in the INDIA alliance, obviously there will be alliances with INDIA partners. Details will be worked out in the coming days,” said the party functionary.

The Punjab divide

In Punjab, most of the state Congress leaders are opposed to the tie-up — as illustrated by Bajwa’s comments at the CWC meeting — but a section of senior functionaries, including former state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is in favour of the alliance because of the larger objective of stopping the BJP from returning to power at the Centre. At present, those opposed to the alliance — state Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is also among them — have the upper hand. This camp, which includes several former state ministers, accuses the AAP government of Bhagwant Singh Mann of unleashing a political witch hunt against the party leaders and believes that joining hands with the ruling party in the state will create space for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Meanwhile, apart from Sidhu, those batting for the alliance in “national interest” are said to include MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and other parliamentarians. A senior party leader who wants to have no truck with the AAP said, “Majority of the party leaders are against the alliance but sitting MPs want it to happen. They think it will help them in 2024 if they are fielded again.”

Of Punjab’s 13 MPs, seven are from the Congress, one belongs to the AAP, and two each are from the BJP and SAD. The other parliamentarian is SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann.