NCP Chief Sharad Pawar steps in, mediates between Congress-AAP in Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 19: Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar on Tuesday stepped in to try and bring Rahul Gandhi's Congress and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party together on an alliance in Delhi. Pawar also reached out to AAP's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh soon after.

PTI quoted sources as saying the Congress leadership is in talks with AAP leaders, while ANI reported that NCP leader Sharad Pawar had stepped in to help stitch together an alliance that can take on the BJP. There was no comment on whether Pawar had made any headway in his mediation efforts.

However, it is not immediately clear how this intervention of the NCP will pan out. The Congress hasn't spoken yet on the outreach either.

After Sharad Pawar's intervention, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit met with colleagues at her home to reconsider a tie-up with AAP - an idea that she has resisted vehemently so far. The leaders later told reporters that they would abide by their bosses' decision.

Media reports surfaced on Monday that Dikshit, a three-time chief minister whose rule ended with AAP's rise in Delhi, warned in a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi informing him that a tie up with the AAP would harm Congress' prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Dikshit's letter was in response to a recent 'phone survey' by AICC's Delhi in Charge PC Chacko to guage the 'mood' of party workers in the capital and their opinion on a Congress-AAP tie up. PC Chacko had earlier said that, "As far as I know, there are senior leaders in Delhi who think that defeating BJP is party's immediate responsibility. For that we should form an alliance with AAP, that's the thinking of majority of leaders.