Congress to take final call on alliance today in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Congress is likely to take its final decision on Monday on whether or not it is willing to join hands with Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for the upcoming

Lok Sabha elections

.


PC Chacko, AICC general secretary in charge for Delhi, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi may decide in the evening whether the party will contest the elections on its own or forge an

alliance

with AAP to prevent BJP from winning the seven seats in Delhi. “I am meeting Rahul Gandhi on Monday evening to discuss the issue. We will know the same day if we are contesting alone or with AAP,” Chacko told TOI.

Sources said Chacko had met Rahul on Saturday to discuss the pros and cons of the alliance, but the Congress president did not take the final decision. Though earlier reports suggested that Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet on Monday morning to discuss the issue, Chacko said the the top leadership was only meeting to discuss the party manifesto. “CWC does not take calls on such issues. The decision on the alliance has to be taken by the Congress president only,” he said.

Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit, who has come across as the most vociferous opponent of the alliance, had told TOI on Saturday that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and other senior leaders had never met her or any other party leader to discuss the issue and its modalities.

Interestingly, Kejriwal, on several occasions, has spoken openly in public that despite his pleadings for joining hands ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress had rejected the offer. Some senior leaders of both the parties, however, appear to be involved in behind-the-curtain discussion on the issue.


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