We are firmly with 'INDIA': AAP on decision to contest all Punjab seats

Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday emphasised that it was firmly with the INDIA bloc and asked the Congress for a quick decision on seat-sharing, even as it defended the move to go it alone in Punjab saying local units of both parties wanted to fight the Lok Sabha elections separately.

AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while addressing a programme in Punjab earlier in the day, announced that his party will declare its candidates for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state and the lone Chandigarh parliamentary seat in the next 10-15 days.

The local units of both Congress and AAP in Punjab favoured fighting election separately, the Aam Aadmi Party, which had earlier called for an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana, said in a statement.

"So we have decided to honour that. Regarding other states, talks are ongoing," the statement said.

"We are firmly with the alliance. Our shared goal is to defeat the BJP. Time is thus of paramount importance if the goal is to defeat the BJP and we are hoping that the Congress will finalise seat-sharing talks at the earliest," the party, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, said.

AAP has been unilaterally announcing its Lok Sabha candidates in different states despite being a constituent of the INDIA bloc.

Earlier this week, expressing dissatisfaction over lingering seat-sharing talks with the Congress, AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak declared his party's Lok Sabha candidates on three seats in Assam.

Before that, Kejriwal during his Gujarat visit in January declared Chaitar Vasava as the AAP candidate in the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in the state.

AAP said that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) should move fast on seat sharing as there is not much time left for Lok Sabha polls preparations.

"We believe in fighting hard and we have been waiting for months now for conclusions. We must conclude all talks and start campaigning," it said.

An alliance between AAP and Congress in Delhi might take place because they need to come together to break the winning streak of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, sources in both parties said.

The two parties have been involved in talks for the past couple of months with sources claiming a possible seat-sharing formula where Congress may contest four seats and AAP three seats out of the total seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi.

The BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats with huge margins in 2014 and 2019 parliamentary polls. Interestingly, BJP candidates polled more votes than the joint tally of Congress and AAP candidates in 2019.