Seat deal hits crossroads as Cong targets 4 Delhi seats, AAP seeks a wider alliance

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. (File photo)

The first formal meeting between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections ended without arriving at a formula with both sides taking a firm stance on January 8.

The Congress has reportedly conveyed its intention to contest four out of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital, while the AAP has sought to broaden the scope of the talks by proposing an alliance not only in Delhi but also in Gujarat, Goa and Haryana.

The Congress expressed concern over AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal's independent announcement that his party would field Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch just a day before the crucial meet.

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While the Congress wanted to limit the talks to Delhi and Punjab, the AAP proposed that the Congress should concede seats in Haryana, Gujarat and Goa if it seeks alliance in the two AAP-ruled states.

Mukul Wasnik led the Congress delegation, which included senior leaders such as Salman Khurshid, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Arvinder Singh Lovely, and Mohan Prakash, to the meeting. The AAP squad comprised Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak and Delhi cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The AAP's unexpected proposal for seat-sharing caught the Congress by surprise, as it was expecting an agreement primarily for Delhi. The Haryana unit of the party has reservations about an alliance with AAP, considering it as a potential loss of political space. The AAP's stance is that if the Congress seeks seats in states where AAP is in power, then it should reciprocate fairly in states where both the parties are in the opposition, the Economic Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Also read: Congress appoints coordinators for 539 Lok Sabha seats

Moneycontrol could not verify the report independently.

The Congress doesn't currently hold any Lok Sabha seat in Delhi, with all seven MPs from the region belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the Congress secured a 22.5 percent vote share in Delhi during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP, despite having an 18 percent vote share, dominates the Assembly with 62 out of 70 seats.

In Punjab, the Congress won eight out of 13 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After its huge victory in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, the AAP expects securing most of the seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.