Congress likely to finalise strategy for Delhi, Haryana today

New Delhi, April 11: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress is scheduled to meet here on Thursday, and likely to finalise its election strategy for Delhi and Haryana.

According to the sources, the grand-old party is also likely to make a final decision on the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Wednesday met Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) President Sheila Dikshit. The meeting has indicated that the decision about the alliance with the AAP will be discussed in the CEC. Sources tell OneIndia that Patel tried to persuade Dikhsit for giving her nod for the proposed alliance with the AAP ahead of the CEC meeting.

It's notable Dikshit camp is dead against joining hands with the AAP and has been telling the party leadership that alliance with the AAP will be suicidal for the Congress and revival for the AAP.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has been openly requesting the Congress to join hands with his party to defeat Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo. However, the Congress has not given a final word in this regard because of the strong resistance from Dikshit camp.

Of late, Dikshit has stopped airing her views publically on the alliance with the AAP, and three working presidents of DPCC: Haroon Yusuf, Devender Yadav, and Rajesh Lilothia; and DPCC spokespersons: Ramakant Goswami and Jitender Kumar Kochar (Jitu) have been openly opposing the alliance with the AAP.

Kejriwal is so much miffed with former Delhi Chief Minister that he said Sheila Dikshit is not an important leader. His statement invited ire of the Dikshit camp, which castigated Kejriwal.

An insider tells OneIndia that despite the strong opposition from Dikhsit camp if the Congress leadership decides to join hands with the AAP in Delhi then chances are high that the majority of the Delhi Congress workers will not campaign for Kejriwal's party.

Earlier, an insider had told OneIndia that the tug of war within the Congress over alliance with the AAP in Delhi is not only for the Lok Sabha elections but also for the Delhi Assembly elections.

"Sheila knows that if the Congress goes solo and wins even a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections then all the credit will go to her. This will ultimately make her stronger and will have more say in the next Delhi Assembly elections, in which again the Congress has nothing to lose as it did not win even a single seat in 2015 Delhi elections. The anti-Sheila camp also realises this and does not want to see Sheila taking all the credit."

However, taking a final decision on alliance with the AAP won't be easy for the Congress as Kejriwal's party has made its stance clear that it would go for an alliance with the Congress in Delhi if the alliance is also for Haryana. While AAP has asked for the Gurugram, Faridabad and Karnal seats in Haryana, the Congress wants New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and Northwest Delhi seats in the Capital.

Kejriwal's party feels that if the Congress, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), and AAP join hand then the alliance can win 10 seats in Haryana.

However, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala has categorically said that there won't be any alliance with the AAP in Haryana.

According to the sources, the CEC meeting will also select the remaining candidates for Madhya Pradesh in the meeting.