No big deal if Cong, AAP join hands, both sailing in the same boat: Vijay Goel

Union minister Vijay Goel said Thursday it was no big deal if the Congress and the AAP join hands in Delhi for the 2019 elections, targeting former chief minister Sheila Dikshit for her stand on the issue in an 'open letter' Thursday.

The former Delhi BJP president said it was due to the "greed of power" as well as the "fear" of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were talking of fighting the elections together.

Both the parties are "sailing in the same boat" and its no big deal if they become ready for a compromise, Goel said in his letter to Dikshit.

The senior Congress leader who was the chief minister of Delhi for 15 years (1998-2013) and a one-time bitter critic of Arvind Kejriwal, said Wednesday that her party high command will take any decision on alliance with the AAP in Delhi.

"I have nothing to do with it. It's the high command which has to take a decision. Whatever its decision, I am not going to question it," Dikshit had told PTI on being asked about possibility of an alliance with the AAP.

Dikshit had said she will not question any decision her party takes in this regard.

Saying that it was "indigestible" that the Congress was planning to join hands with the AAP, Goel hoped that Dikshit will "reconsider" her decision.

"Was that all drama when Congress demonstrated against Arvind Kejriwal(government) on the issues of water, electricity, education, health and corruption ?," Goel questioned the veteran Congress leader in Delhi.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has repeatedly rejected possibility of any alliance with the AAP in Delhi.

In June this year, addressing a joint press conference alongwith Dikshit at Delhi Congress office, Maken had categorically rejected chances of his party joining hands with the AAP in Delhi.

In case the two parties come together to contest the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, the BJP will be faced with an uphill task to retain its tally of seven seats it won in 2014.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the elections scoring 7-0 while AAP and Congress drew blank. The AAP came second while the Congress stood third.

However, in six seats, the combine votes of the AAP and the Congress were much more than that obtained by the BJP.