New Delhi, April 12:The now-on, now-off parliamentary poll alliance between the Congress and AAP finally fell apart on Friday with the Congress leadership blaming the AAP for the breakdown of talks and for raising “impractical conditions” for the Delhi alliance.
Congress in-charge of Delhi PC Chacko said the AAP was making an impractical suggestion of extending the Delhi alliance to Punjab and Haryana and other states so the “Delhi alliance may not be possible now”.The Congress said it was still ready for a “Delhi-centric alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls” but didn’t agree with the AAP’s idea of having a similar alliance in Punjab, Haryana and Goa.
“The situation in other states is not the same as in Delhi; therefore, we cannot have an alliance in the other states. The AAP has compelled us to go it alone in Delhi,” said Chacko.He said the Congress Central Election Committee on Thursday discussed all seven Lok Sabha nominees of Delhi and would release the candidates’ list in a day or two.
Chacko said, “In spite of the reservations our state leadership had about the Delhi alliance we wanted the alliance in national interest. The AAP and Congress alliance was ideal in Delhi. We also arrived at a pact. There were proposals from the AAP to discuss Haryana, Punjab and Goa and we thought it’s not feasible to have pacts in other states as in Delhi. Subsequently, on Wednesday the statement came from the AAP that the pact is not possible. It was only on the instructions of the Congress president that we tried an understanding with the AAP. Even today we are ready with an alliance provided they stick to the discussion we had in Delhi as per our strength. Alliance is not feasible in other states.”
He said since the AAP is not taking a practical decision on the alliance, the Congress is being compelled to go it on its own and fight all seats in Delhi.
“We wanted to clarify that we were and are willing but the AAP is going back after discussing with us and it’s not practical to extend the understanding in Delhi to other states. We are going to fight all seven seats on our own,” Chacko said.
