No AAP-Congress alliance for Delhi assembly polls: Gopal Rai

Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi state convener Gopal Rai on Thursday said his party's alliance with the Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections and hinted that the ruling party in the city will go solo in next year's assembly polls in Delhi.

After a meeting of party MLAs and senior leaders at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in Delhi, Rai told PTI that the party gave full support to the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls.

"The INDIA bloc was only for contesting the Lok Sabha polls. Several parties fought elections together and AAP was also a part of it. As of now, there is no alliance for the Delhi Assembly polls," he told PTI.

Rai said that at the meeting on Thursday, it was agreed that people's mandate in the Lok Sabha polls was against "dictatorship".

"We fought the elections in the most adverse circumstances. Our top leaders are in jail. The victory margin has reduced on all the seats," he said.

Talking to reporters, Rai said there was disappointment among AAP workers after Kejriwal's arrest but the party remained united even in difficult circumstances and put up a good fight against "dictatorship".

He asserted that the biggest advantage of the AAP-Congress alliance has been that the victory margins of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in Delhi have reduced.

"It was decided in the meeting that on June 8, we will hold a meeting with councillors and on June 13, a meeting will be held with all party workers of Delhi. Since Kejriwal is in jail, our struggle will continue," the AAP Delhi convener said.

It was also decided that all party MLAs will hold meetings with workers on Saturday and Sunday to speed up the development works since the Model Code of Conduct has been lifted.

The AAP-Congress combine drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, with BJP effecting a clean sweep on all seven parliamentary seats for a record third time.