Pawar meets Rahul, AAP over opposition alliance

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had separate meetings with Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday amid speculation that the Congress and AAP could still come together in Delhi to fight the Lok Sabha elections.

Probed by journalists, Singh, a confidant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said the meeting was held to discuss how anti-BJP parties should stand together over certain issues despite having difference.

Refusing to go into details, he said it was the time to save the nation. "We all can save our parties later."

Asked about an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Singh said: "The alliance question is hypothetical. Talks do not take place on ifs and buts. We have introduced our candidates who are working hard on the ground. We are also working to win all the seven seats."

The Congress is known to be divided over allying with the AAP in the Lok Sabha polls. While former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is bitterly opposed to any relationship with the AAP, a section of the Congress wants a tie-up with it.

Dikshit said on Tuesday that Delhi Congress "was capable of doing everything by itself" and said no one had spoken to her about any alliance.

Stressing that she was not in favour of an alliance, she, however, said that she will follow any instructions from the party leadership.

Apart from the situation in Delhi, Gandhi and Pawar are also learnt to have discussed about the alliance between their Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.

The two leaders are also learnt to have discussed the broad contours of alliance among opposition parties for the Lok Sabha elections, including that in Bihar, where there has been no announcement of seat sharing so far among opposition parties.

The NCP is seeking Bihar's Katihar seat, where its sitting MP Tariq Anwar has joined the Congress.

--IANS

ps/vd