Here is another angle of Congress, AAP alliance in Delhi

New Delhi, March 30: The proposed alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is changing colours day-by-day.

Few developments on Friday added a new colour to it. Punjab AAP leaders met party supremo Arvind Kejriwal at his residence in New Delhi in which Kejriwal asked the party leaders that they should dispel rumours that there will be an alliance with the Congress in Punjab.

The meeting was attended by with AAP Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann, eight of the 13 Lok Sabha candidates declared by the party and the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Harpal Singh Cheema.

It's notable that the meeting comes after Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh told the Congress high-command that he is not in favour of an alliance with the AAP.

Kejriwal also told NDTV in Vijaywada that the AAP needs the alliance with the Congress in Haryana, but not in Delhi.

Another Angle in Delhi

Sources tell One India that it is factionalism within in the Congress that has prevented any decision till now over alliance with the AAP in Delhi.

A Congress insider says that it is anti-Sheila Dikshit camp that wants to forge an alliance with the AAP in Delhi.

Congress Delhi in-charge PC Chacko and former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) President Ajay Maken have been batting for the alliance with the AAP. Former Delhi Chief Minister and DPCC President Sheila Dikshit is against any tie-up with Kejriwal. Though she has stopped expressing her views over the issue, her Working Presidents-Haroon Yusuf, Devender Yadav, and Rajesh Lilothia- have been speaking up her views.

On Friday, Lilothia said that the Congress does not need the support of another party to win Lok Sabha elections.

He said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi has appointed Working Presidents to strengthen the party and not for forging the alliance.

The rivalry between Maken and Sheila is since decades and well-known. Sheila camp had also registered protest over a phone survey, carried out through Shakti app of the party, on the directions of Chacko. The survey sought views of around 52,000 Delhi Congress workers on whether they supported the party's alliance with the AAP in Delhi or not without taking Sheila into confidence.

"The tug of war within the Congress over alliance with the AAP in Delhi is not for the Lok Sabha elections but 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," says the Congress insider.

The AAP had won 67 seats out of 70 seats in 2015 Delhi Assembly elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged the remaining three seats.

The insider adds that the popularity graph of the AAP in Delhi is on a downward trend and it suits Sheila.

"No matter how much the AAP leadership exudes confidence of winning all the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi, but it realises a fact that even if the party wins a single seat then also it would be a great achievement," he says, adding that when the Delhi Assembly elections will be held then the AAP is unlikely to repeat the success of 2015 and its loss will be a gain for either the Congress or the BJP.

"So, Sheila has nothing to lose in the Lok Sabha elections as well as in the Assembly elections. This is not being liked by her political opponents and they want to join hands with the AAP in the Lok Sabha elections in the name of defeating the BJP without thinking about the loss and profit of the Congress. As a matter of fact, they don't want to see Sheila winning. "