AAP Feeds Buzz About Congress As Ally With A Pause And Cryptic Response

New Delhi: Delhi Congress leaders have gone on an overdrive to spike suggestions that the party wanted to tie up with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, in the 2019 general elections in the national capital. Just when that message seemed to be sinking in, AAP appeared to feed the buzz that such an alliance was still not beyond the realm of possibility.

At a media briefing on Tuesday to mount another offensive against the national coalition led by the BJP, AAP's spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj was asked if his party could arrive at an arrangement with the Congress for next year's election to the city's seven Lok Sabha seats.

Mr Bharadwaj paused for five seconds and then spoke.

"There has been no decision on this by the party. When the party takes a decision, you will be informed," he said.

Did this mean that an alliance could happen?

"No, there has been no decision. How could anything be possible before a decision," AAP's chief spokesperson said.

Mr Bharadwaj's colleague, Dilip K Pandey had last week claimed that the senior Congress leaders had gotten in touch with AAP to seek its "support and cooperation" in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The Congress outreach was seen as an extension of efforts to consolidate opposition unity in an attempt to put up a tough fight against the BJP in the 2019 elections.

But Delhi Congress, which has been for attempting to recapture the political space that it had lost out to AAP, responded angrily to the suggestion.

"There is no reason for the party (Congress) to support AAP when even people do not," Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken told reporters, insisting that the AAP's popularity had been on a sharp decline and an alliance would only benefit AAP, rather than the Congress.

Arvind Kejriwal's AAP owes its origins to a 2011 anti-corruption movement that had extensively targeted the UPA government at the centre, and a Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit. Many Congress leaders such as Ajay Maken haven't forgiven AAP for the campaign that eroded their credibility.

This is one reason why Congress's Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have never sent an invite to Arvind Kejriwal's party to any of the opposition meets that they have hosted over lunch and dinner.

Many opposition leaders including those from Left parties and Janata Dal Secular have advocated that the Congress should move on and prep to work together with all parties. Many opposition parties already have.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the leaders of non-BJP parties invited to Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's grand swearing-in ceremony last month that also doubled up as a show of strength for the opposition parties. AAP was also part of the anti-BJP front that snatched the Kairana Lok Sabha seat from the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in last month's by-elections.