New Delhi: The INDIA bloc has been virtually confined to the history books, after the RLD walked out of the alliance in UP it was turn of the AAP to snub the Congress in Delhi. On Tuesday the Aam Aadmi Party offered the Congress Party a single Lok Sabha seat in Delhi. This is contrary to earlier reports that had suggested a 3-4 formula between Congress and AAP in Delhi.
Further, AAP MP Sandeep Pathak said that even though the Congress party does not merit even a single seat in Delhi, in the spirit of alliance, the AAP party is willing to offer one seat. The AAP plans to field candidates in the remaining six seats in Delhi, Pathak added.
"You must have seen in the Delhi elections that the Congress party has zero seats in the Lok Sabha, zero seats in the Vidhan Sabha, and in the MCD elections, out of 250, only 9 seats have come to the Congress party. If you look at this data on a merit basis, the Congress party does not get a single seat, according to this data. But data is not important; keeping in mind the dharma of the alliance and the respect of the Congress party, we offer them one seat. So we propose that the Congress party fights on one seat and the Aam Aadmi Party fights on six seats," he said.
The AAP MP added that the candidate's announcement is not being made today. He expressed hope that a meeting will soon commence in Delhi, and the conclusion of this meeting will determine the next steps.
"Today, we are not announcing the candidate. I hope that the meeting will start in the context of Delhi soon, the conclusion of the meeting will come out, we will all get on with our work and if the conclusion does not come out, then in the next few days we will announce the candidate on the six seats we are saying and we will start our preparation and our work, AAP MP Sandeep Pathak said," he said.
AAP also threw the gauntlet at the Congress by announcing Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas' name as the candidate to contest LS poll from South Goa seat. This is a seat that is currently held by Congress MP Francisco Sardinha. AAP has also named Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch and Umesh Bhai Makwana from Bhavnagar as candidates from Gujarat. It was reported that Congress was considering late Ahmed Patel's daughte Mumtaz Patel for Bahruch.
Pathak also expressed his disappointment over the lack of progress in seat-sharing discussions with the Congress party; he added that despite two official meetings, no concrete outcomes have been achieved.
"We had two official meetings with the Congress party regarding seat sharing but there was no result of these meetings. Other than these two official meetings, no other meeting has taken place in the last month. We have been waiting for the next meeting; even the leaders of Congress are not aware of the next meeting. Today, I am sitting here with a heavy heart. We announced three candidates from Assam and I hope the INDIA alliance will accept them," he said.
As the Lok Sabha elections approach, political parties across the spectrum are ramping up their efforts to connect with voters. With the BJP bringing on new partners like the RLD on its platform the INDIA bloc is sinking in its efforts to put up a united front.
—ANI