"Ball-By-Ball Commentary...": Raghav Chadha On Congress Alliance Talks

In a development that is likely to come as a relief for the INDIA alliance, two key members, the Congress and the AAP, have met for the second time in less than a week and said that seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls are progressing well. Discussions on the allocation of seats in Punjab and Delhi - where the AAP is in power - were seen as possible stumbling blocks for the alliance, along with West Bengal. 

Sources have said seat-sharing in Gujarat, Goa and Haryana is also being discussed by the two parties.

Speaking after a two-hour meeting at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik's residence in Delhi on Friday, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said in Hindi, "The discussion on an alliance is going very well but it's not like a cricket match where we can give you ball-by-ball commentary. Congress leader Salman Khurshid has spoken to you in detail."

Mr Khurshid said discussions are progressing well and that they would continue until everything is decided upon. 

"We are moving forward very well and we are all satisfied. We are hopeful that we will arrive at a decision and place it before you after discussing it with our leaders. We are together and we talk about every state, but when we talk about a place where two or four of us (parties) have a strong presence, we think about it from the perspective of the INDIA alliance," the senior Congress leader said.

Asked about Punjab, where some leaders from both parties have opposed an alliance with the other, Mr Khurshid said, "Whatever we do, we will do it together. We are holding discussions keeping the people and our party workers in mind. We will take a decision on whatever seats we can and place it before our leaders, and then decide on the next batch of seats."

Similar sentiments were expressed by both parties after the first seat-sharing meeting on Monday. The Congress had said that it had decided to contest elections together with the AAP. The next day, senior AAP leader from Delhi, Gopal Rai, said that his party had stated its stand to contest the polls in five states - Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Goa, and Delhi - in alliance with the Congress, according to news agency PTI.

Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats and Delhi has seven. The BJP had swept all seven seats in Delhi in 2019 while the Congress had won eight in Punjab.