Congress says chances of tie-up with AAP in Delhi almost finished; may announce LS candidates soon

Amid the continuing "flip-flop" over the tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Thursday said the prospects of its alliance with the AAP are almost finished.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has "refused" to form an alliance with the Congress in Delhi alone, said P C Chacko, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Delhi.

Sources, however, said that the party would wait for any fresh move by the AAP till the announcement of the list of its Lok Sabha candidates in Delhi.

"They (AAP) had agreed for an alliance with us in Delhi alone on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, they raised the full statehood issue. I told them we are ready, full statehood was in our manifesto for 2015(Assembly) election.

"But, later I received Sanjay Singh's message that Kejriwal had said the alliance was not possible unless it covers Haryana also," Chacko said.

Singh, the AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, was authorised by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to take the alliance talks with the Congress forward.

After Singh's message, Chacko met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and apprised him of the development.

"I told him about the flip-flop of the AAP leaders. Now, we will give a final touch to the list of our candidates in Delhi. It could be announced on Friday," he said.

In the evening, Chacko met Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit and other leaders to take a final call on the list of party candidates.

The Congress had proposed a 4-3 formula for an alliance in Delhi, offering four seats to the AAP. It had opted for the Chandni Chowk, North West Delhi and the New Delhi seats for itself.

The AAP, however, said that if the alliance was limited only to Delhi, the Congress would have to contest in just two seats.