Congress rejects alliance possibility with AAP, says will win clear majority in Delhi polls

Congress's Delhi unit chief Subhash Chopra on Friday dismissed any possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the forthcoming assembly polls, asserting his party will win a "clear majority" on its own and form the next government in the city.

Congress and AAP were involved in a long deliberation for an alliance to take on the BJP in Delhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but the two parties failed to reach an agreement on seat-sharing.

"I would like to make it very clear, we are going to have clear majority. We are going to form the next government in Delhi. There is no chance of any kind of alliance," Chopra said when asked if the Congress was considering an alliance with AAP before or after the assembly polls, likely in February.

An announcement for the Delhi Assembly election is likely to be made in a few days.

Asked about number of seats his party expects to win, Chopra claimed the Congress will win a "clear majority" in the election to the 70 assembly seats.

The Delhi Congress on Friday set up an election "war room" at the party office on DDU Marg.

The war room, comprising 14 workstations manned by 30 volunteers, will provide logistic support to party candidates in the election. Each volunteer will handle five constituencies and establish contact with party workers and leaders in those areas.

The ruling AAP has already rejected the possibility of forming an alliance with the Congress for the assembly polls, with senior party leader Sanjay Singh saying Congress is not even in the competition.

However, AICC incharge of Delhi Congress PC Chacko asserted his party is "fully prepared" for the elections. "We are very hopeful and confident that our graph is going up and we are sure Congress will come back to power single handedly," Chacko told reporters.

Chopra said Congress will approach voters and highlight the work done by the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi during its 15-year rule.

He also reiterated his party's poll promises of providing relief to consumers using up to 600 unit of electricity per month, free power to farmers and relief to small shopkeepers consuming up to 200 units of power.

The election committee of Delhi Congress will meet on Saturday to discuss candidate selection. "We will give priority to youth and experience in candidate selection which will be completed soon," Chopra said.