AAP says no to alliance with Cong only in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said an alliance just in Delhi is not possible after the Congress refused to have a tie-up anywhere else.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that giving three seats to the Congress in the national capital would mean 'giving three seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party', when asked his opinion on the 4:3 seat sharing formula proposed by the Congress.

He said the Congress first proposed 6:3:1 seat sharing formula to the AAP in Haryana where six seats would be for Congress, three for Janayak Janata Party and one seat for AAP.

"Our decision to form an alliance with the Congress was to stop the Modi-Shah duo," he said.

"The Congress has zero presence in Delhi even then they want nearly half of the seats. With that logic, the Congress should form an alliance in Punjab and Haryana too.

"We have 20 MLAs and 4 MPs in Punjab then why can't an alliance be formed with us," Sisodia asked.

Senior party leader Sanjay Singh said they have agreed to all seat sharing arrangements that the Congress proposed, but even then the grand old party backtracked.

"After discussions with our alliance partner in Haryana, the JJP, we agreed to it, but the Congress refused and said they can't give more than two seats to the JJP and proposed 7:2:1 formula," said Singh, who was negotiating with the Congress.

JJP chief Dushyant Chautala even agreed to that but then the Congress backtracked again on Friday night, saying there is no possibility of formation of any alliance anywhere except Delhi, he said.

Singh said the JJP had proposed 4:4:2 with four seats for Congress, four for JJP and two seats for AAP but it was outrightly rejected by the Congress.

However, sources say that even though the possibility of formation of an alliance has been completely closed in Haryana, the AAP is still open to alliance in the national capital in 5:2 formula, with five seats for the ruling party.

Senior party leader Gopal Rai had said on Friday that in a last ditch effort to form an alliance with the Congress, the AAP postponed the nomination of its candidates.

On Saturday, AAP's East Delhi candidate Atishi, Chandini Chowk candidate Pankaj Gupta and North West candidate Gugan Singh were to file their nominations.

"But to give a last chance to the Congress to come on the table for holding talks over the alliance, we are postponing these candidates' nominations from Saturday to Monday," Rai had said on Friday.

On Monday, these candidates would file their nominations along with South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha, North East Delhi candidate Dilip Pandey and New Delhi candidate Brijesh Goyal, he added.

On Thursday, after holding a roadshow, the party's West Delhi candidate Balbir Singh Jakhar filed his nomination papers.

Uncertainty prevails over the tie-up in Delhi, with the AAP seeking an alliance in Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh.

The Congress, however, offered to tie up only in the national capital.

On Thursday, the AAP-JJP alliance announced that there is no possibility of a tie-up in Haryana as the JJP said that it could never join hands with the grand old party.

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AAP gives unconditional support to LDF in Kerala

The AAP, meanwhile, has extended unconditional support to all candidates of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala for the Lok Sabha elections, party leader Somnath Bharti said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu thanked the AAP for the support.

"Our main aim is to remove the NDA and stop communal tension and polarisation done by them and in this direction, we are campaigning in different states. We thank the AAP for supporting us," he told reporters in a joint press conference with Bharti.

Meanwhile, the AAP suspended its Kerala convener

C R Neelakandan for allegedly announcing the party's support to the Congress in the southern state without any consultation with the party's political affairs committee.

Bharti said Neelakandan held a press conference in Kerala and said the AAP supports the candidates of the Congress in the state.

"That press conference was unauthorised and conducted without the knowledge or consultation of the Aam Aadmi Party. The AAP's political affairs committee has condemned his move and decided to suspend Neelakandan from the primary membership of the party," he said.

AAP's New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Brijesh Goyal hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, claiming that traders were extremely unhappy with Modi for not addressing their issues at the event.

Modi on Friday addressed a thanksgiving convention at the Talkatora Stadium organised by traders supporting the BJP to express their 'gratitude' for various measures promised in the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.