Lok Sabha polls: Congress to go alone in Delhi as talks with AAP fail

The Congress on Friday said its talks with the AAP for an alliance has failed as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party took an "impractical stand" of a tie-up in four states, but indicated that possibilities for an electoral understanding between the two were still alive for Delhi.

Congress in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko announced that the party will go alone, but maintained that it is still willing to have an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party provided the tie-up is restricted only to the national capital.

The AAP, however, said the tie-up can only be done on 33 Lok Sabha seats across four states and one Union Territory.

Soon after the Congress announcement, the AAP announced a tie-up with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for Haryana.

The JJP was launched by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Dushyant Chautala, following a power struggle in the state's main opposition INLD last year.

Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the JJP will fight on seven seats and AAP on three seats.

Uncertainty over alliance between the AAP and the Congress has been continuing for weeks now with the former demanding an alliance on 33 seats of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh.

The talks between the two sides derailed after they failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing in Delhi and Haryana.

Chacko said the Congress will contest alone in Delhi since AAP has taken an "impractical stand".

"We are compelled to go on our own as AAP is going back on its stand," Chacko told reporters.

He, however, said, "We are still ready (for alliance) if AAP is willing to have an alliance in Delhi alone. We want to fight the BJP together."
AAP's Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh, who was holding alliance talks with the Congress, said, "Our sincerity to stop the BJP in Haryana is reflected by the fact that we became a junior partner to a four-month-old party (JJP) and agreed to contest only less than half of the seats in the state."