NEW DELHI: Amid
mounting pressure
from a section of the party for an
alliance
with
AAP
, former Delhi CM
Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said that Arvind
Kejriwal had
neither spoken
to Congress president
Rahul Gandhi nor her for any
tie-up
for the Lok Sabha polls.
“Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has not once tried to reach out to me or our national president Rahul Gandhi directly about an alliance or the very purpose of it and specifics of seat sharing,” said Dikshit, who took over as Delhi Congress chief in January.
Dikshit’s remarks came in response to statements from AAP leaders who have accused Congress of being “indecisive” in forming an alliance.
“Not once has Mr Kejriwal tried to speak to me. If you want to ally with a party, you have to talk to each other. The talks have to happen between the top leaders of the parties. Hence there is no progress and one is only hearing of talks,” she said.
Diskhit said for an alliance, the seat-sharing formula has to take into account that Congress is a national party. “We are not finished. We are the same party that won three consecutive elections in Delhi and we have the confidence to go to polls by ourselves,” she added.
Dikshit has been vociferous in her opposition to any tie-up with AAP, being of the opinion that it would be of no advantage to Congress in the long run and may adversely impact its revival for the assembly polls next year. However, as voices grew stronger favouring an alliance to checkmate BJP in the capital in the LS polls, Dikshit was seen to have mellowed down her opposition.
On letters, favouring an alliance, written by 14 district presidents to Rahul Gandhi, Diskhit said, “So far no one from within the Congress has approached me officially saying they want an alliance with AAP. No letters have been sent to me. I have no first-hand knowledge of letters being written to Rahul Gandhi by party leaders from Delhi.”
What if the party brass decides to go ahead with an alliance? Dikshit countered: “Must not all those keen on an alliance talk to our national president Rahul Gandhi and me as PCC chief. In one meeting that I had with him (Rahul) on the issue with three working presidents in PCC - Haroon Yusuf, Rajesh Lilothia and Devendra Yadav— we shared our reasons why there should not be an alliance. He (Rahul) agreed with us. There has been no meeting after that.”
Dikshit also pointed out that Cong and AAP shared their electoral universe. “We must also bear in mind that aligning with AAP means aligning with our biggest rival,” she said.