India News | LS Polls 2024: Congress, AAP Seal Alliance Deal for Four States; BJP Terms It 'Thugbandhan'

New Delhi [India], February 24 (ANI): After weeks of suspense and wrangling over the allotment of seats in the national capital ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, INDIA partners AAP and Congress on Saturday announced a seat-sharing pact for Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Chandigarh and Goa.

As part of the agreement reached between the ruling party in Delhi and the grand old party, Congress will contest 3 of the 7 Lok Sabha seats in the national capital while the AAP will field candidates in the remaining 4 constituencies.

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At a joint press conference of top leaders of the two parties in the national capital on Saturday, Congress general secretary and MP Mukul Wasnik said his party will contest the Chandni Chowk, North East and North West seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

"As you are all aware, Delhi Lok Sabha has 7 seats. AAP will contest 4 seats--New Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi--while Congress will contest 3--Chandni Chowk, North East and North West," Wasnik said.

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The general elections in the national capital will mark the first time since independence that the members of the Gandhi family will vote for another party in the New Delhi constituency, a seat the grand old party has set aside for the AAP.

In neighboring Gujarat, the Congress will contest 24 of 26 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the remaining 2--Bharuch and Bhavnagar-- for the AAP.

"Of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, the Congress will contest on 24 while the AAP will field candidates for Bharuch and Bhavnagar," the Congress leader said.

In Haryana, the Congress will contest 8 of the 9 Lok Sabha seats while the AAP will contest the lone seat--Kurukshetra."Of the 10 LS seats in Haryana, the Congress will fight on 9 and the AAP will contest one seat-- Kurukshetra," Wasnik said.

He added that the two parties also reached a consensus on the grand old party contesting the prized Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.

"After a long discussion on Chandigarh, the two parties decided that the Congress candidate will contest the seat," he added.

As part of the seat-sharing deal, the Congress will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.

Significantly, the AAP contested previous Assembly elections in Goa but fared dismally.

"It was further decided that Congress will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa," he said.

Meanwhile, several leaders of the INDIA bloc hailed the move asserting that the mega alliance will secure victory in the coming assembly polls.

"Even though talks for seat sharing with the Congress party took some time, but AAP had made it very clear since the beginning that it is an important part of the INDIA alliance. Finally today, multiple states' seat sharing has been announced in the INDIA alliance in which Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Goa, and Chandigarh are involved... Be it Congress or AAP, we have prioritized the welfare of the country over the welfare of the party," Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi told ANI.

"INDIA alliance will win Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, and Goa... Ever since the INDIA alliance seat sharing was nearly finalized, Arvind Kejriwal started getting threats from all sides. We were told, that if we don't exit the alliance, after ED, the CBI will also frame charges against Arvind Kejriwal to arrest him. We have information that CBI will issue a notice on Monday, and probably in some days, Arvind Kejriwal is arrested," he added.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, while speaking to ANI, said, "Our alliance with Congress has been announced in several states today. In Delhi, AAP will contest on 4 seats and Congress on 3. In Haryana (10), AAP will contest on 1 and Congress on the remaining. In Gujarat (26), AAP will contest on 2 - Bhavnagar and Bharuch and Congress will contest on the remaining. The seats in Chandigarh and Goa will be contested by Congress. In Punjab, Congress and AAP will contest independently...The dialogues are still open in Assam."

AAP MP Sandeep Pathak highlighted that the alliance has been formed in the interest of the country.

"The alliance has been formed seeing the interest of the country. Congress will contest some seats while AAP will contest some. But the fact remains that we will fight the elections together and the country will win," he said.

Congress leader and Haryana Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, "The alliance decision is good. We will fight on the given seat with all our strength for the benefit of the nation. There are several issues such as unemployment, in Haryana farmers are facing conundrums, and many others... BJP will say multiple things but ultimately the people are the decision makers."

Calling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 'Bhrasht Jumla Party', Goa Congress Chief Amit Patkar said, "From the INDIA Bloc, AAP and Congress have decided that both the seats from Goa, South Goa, and North Goa, would be contested by the Congress. I want to thank the AAP leaders and their party workers who decided to come together with the Congress to defeat the 'Bhrasht Jumla Party'."

Attacking the ruling BJP, Congress leader Deepinder Singh Hooda said that the former is consistently trying to 'shut down' the opposition.

"Today, this central government has all the powers and money...It is continuously trying to shut down the opposition, keeping that in mind Congress and AAP have decided to form an alliance in Haryana and other states as well," Hooda said.

AAP Haryana President Sushil Gupta said that a strong alliance has been formed.

"A strong alliance has been formed...BJP is totally scared because of this alliance...BJP now wants to arrest Arvind Kejriwal...this election is for the restoration of democracy...this election is to protect the constitutional bodies of the country," he said.

The BJP, meanwhile, lashed out at the alliance between the two parties, terming it 'Thugbandhan'.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told ANI that the alliance of the Congress and the AAP has contradictions as they will contest against each other in Punjab while trying to fight together in some other states.

"This is actually 'Thugbandhan' (INDI alliance). What a confusing and contradictory status. In Punjab, they will keep fighting and in Delhi, they will unite... They are allying with Lalu (Yadav) and Sonia (Gandhi), whom they wanted to send to jail," he said.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said AAP workers will be disappointed with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's change of stance about Congress.

"You must have heard 'chor chor mausere bhai'. That is what is happening between AAP and Congress. AAP workers are disappointed because Arvind Kejriwal used to speak about putting Congress leaders in jail but he is now at their feet," he said.

BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the alliance won't affect the BJP.

"This is not going to affect the BJP. In 2019, the BJP got more votes than the Congress and the AAP combined... In 2019, there was a Modi wave, but this time there is a storm in PM Modi's favor. People have decided to make Narendra Modi the PM for the third time with more than 400 seats... In Delhi, the BJP will get more than 70% votes," he said.

BJP MP Mansukh Vasava said, "In Bharuch Lok Sabha seat, AAP and the Congress have made an alliance, this is not going to affect the BJP at all. The Congress is broken in the whole country. The regional parties have no base. They (Congress) have been making alliances against the BJP for a long time now, but they have never succeeded. In the coming times also, they will not last even till the elections."

Attacking the opposition, BJP leader Nalin Kohli, "The seat-sharing that has happened between AAP and Congress, several things are cleared now. The first is that the Congress accepted that it would be a junior partner in several states to regional parties. At the national level, no INDI alliance exists. AAP recognizes the harsh reality that its credibility is going down, especially in Delhi due to serious allegations of corruption, and a liquor scam, and his two ministers are in jail. All the opposition parties have recognized that the mood of the nation is with PM Modi due to the work that has been done in the last 10 years."

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in a scathing attack on the AAP and the Congress, said that the path to 'hell' is paved with 'skewed' alliances.

Reminding Arvind Kejriwal that he floating AAP after protesting against the alleged corruption cases that came up during the Congress's tenure in the national capital that resulted into the dethroning of the grand old party rule in the national capital.

Taking to 'X', Puri wrote, "The path to hell (or in this case political oblivion!) is paved with skewed alliances! If the opportunist alliance between AAP and Congress even manages to survive its inherent contradictions it will be the most bizarre political combination in every sense!"

The Union Minister further said that people would remember the AAP came into being after protesting against the alleged corruption cases that came up during the Congress's tenure in the national capital.

"One that tries to pull the wool over the eyes of their own voters. People will clearly remember that AAP came into being after protesting against the rampant impunity & corruption of Congress which it subsequently defeated in Delhi & as the slew of cases against their ministers & leaders show, has now even embodied what they protested against!," he said.

Hardeep Singh Puri further pointed out that the most curious part of the 'dysfunctional dalliance' is that the parties have joined hands in Delhi, but oppose each other in Punjab.

"But the most curious part of this dysfunctional dalliance - they will be together in Delhi, but against each other in Punjab!" said the Union Minister.

AAP was formed after an anti-corruption agitation in the national capital. The Congress was then in power in Delhi as well as the Centre.

Meanwhile, in West Bengal, there is yet no confirmation on the seat-sharing deal between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress.

Earlier, TMC Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee distanced herself from the mega alliance announcing to go solo in the coming Lok Sabha polls. However, several Congress leaders tried to play it down, stating that the seat-sharing talks were underway with the TMC.

Earlier today, claiming that the ruling Trinamool Congress is in a "dilemma" over the alliance, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the grand old party will contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the state "alone."

"They (TMC) are in a dilemma. There should be an official yes or no from the party Supremo (Mamata Banerjee). They are not saying officially that the process of forging the alliance has ended. Because they are in a dilemma," the state Congress chief said.

He further said that TMC is unable to decide on the alliance because of their dilemma while hinting at ongoing dialogue between the parties.

"The first dilemma is a section of the party believes that if they contest alone, without the INDIA alliance, then the minorities of West Bengal will vote against them. One section of the TMC wants the alliance to continue. Another section is in another dilemma that if the alliance is given more importance in Bengal, then the Modi government will use ED, and CBI against them. Because of these two dilemmas, the TMC has not been able to make a clear decision.

Maybe there are some talks in Delhi, but I don't have any such information," he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday announced a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Apart from its traditional strongholds of Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Congress will also contest Varanasi, Ghaziabad, and Kanpur.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held in April-May this year. (ANI)

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