Delhi Congress rules out any alliance with AAP for 2019 parliamentary polls

The Delhi Congress on Thursday made it clear it will have no alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, after Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel advocated participation of the AAP in the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP.

The Congress leaders and workers are against any alliance with the AAP, whose vote share is "fast eroding", for 2019 Parliamentary elections, Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmishtha Mukherjee and senior leader Chatar Singh said in a statement.

"Congress will have no alliance with Aam Aadmi Party in the Parliamentary elections in Delhi in 2019," they said.

Referring to Goel's statement, they said there is "no change in the Congress stand" that it will not have any tie-up with the AAP in the Parliamentary elections in 2019.

The Delhi Assembly Speaker, on the sidelines of an event, said that participation of AAP in proposed Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) will be in thee interest of Delhi and the country.

After a meeting with the district Congress committees on June 2 this year, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken had said that the Congress workers and leaders of Delhi do not want any electoral understanding with Arvind Kejriwal's party in the 2019 Parliamentary elections."