Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has firmly dismissed any possibility of an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, slated for February. In a post on X, Kejriwal reiterated that the AAP would be contesting the elections on its own strength.
“There is no possibility of any alliance with the Congress,” Kejriwal declared, dismissing recent media reports suggesting a potential tie-up between the two parties. This statement echoes his earlier remarks this month, when he had also ruled out the possibility of such an alliance.
The speculation regarding a potential Congress-AAP alliance was fueled by the cancellation of the Congress ‘Nyay Chaupal’ event on Wednesday, which was to be the culmination of the Delhi Congress’s “Nyay Yatra” campaign ahead of the assembly polls. Additionally, Kejriwal’s meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday had led to further speculation, though neither Kejriwal nor AAP have commented on the details of that meeting.
Despite the growing buzz about a possible alliance, both the AAP and Congress have made cautious moves in the run-up to the Delhi polls. Earlier this year, both parties fought the Lok Sabha elections together but lost all seven seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Furthermore, despite several rounds of talks, they failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement for the Haryana Assembly elections in October.
With the BJP determined to reclaim power in Delhi, the AAP is focused on retaining its stronghold. In the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the AAP won 67 and 62 seats, respectively, while the BJP secured 3 and 8 seats. The Congress, however, has yet to make any significant impact in the capital’s elections, failing to win a seat in both of the last two assembly elections.
