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Days after she announced that the Indian National Congress will not tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told The Indian Express, “if the high command decides to go for an alliance, we will automatically accept it.”
The development comes amid reports that Dikshit and her three working presidents last week wrote to Congress President Rahul Gandhi against the alliance, protesting a recent phone survey by the party to gauge workers' mood on the alliance.
A Congress leader told news agency PTI that “Dikshit and the working presidents have urged the Congress chief not to forge an alliance with the AAP, saying it will harm the party in the long run."
While Congress’ top leadership is reportedly in favour of a tie-up with AAP, Dikshit has so far opposed it.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary PC Chacko told the newspaper that 14 district committee presidents and four former presidents of the state unit are in favour of the tie-up while Dikshit, among others, are not.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
Earlier, Congress had ordered an internal survey via the party’s Shakti application to seek the opinion of around 52,000 party workers in the state on an alliance with AAP. The survey results have been reportedly passed on to Gandhi. A final call on the alliance is expected to be taken by Gandhi in the coming days.
AAP was keen on the alliance. Earlier, a 3-3-1 seat-sharing formula was proposed, where in AAP and Congress would contest three out of Delhi’s seven seats each. An independent candidate supported by both sides would be in the seventh seat.
Having waited for a response from the Congress, AAP has already announced candidates for all seven seats: Atishi (East Delhi), Guggan Singh (Northwest Delhi), Balbir Singh Jakhar (West Delhi), Raghav Chadha (South), Dilip Pandey (Northeast), Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk) and Brijesh Goyal (New Delhi).
Delhi will head for voting in a single phase on May 12.
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