Alliance path bright, but seat sharing may be tricky

NEW DELHI: After Rahul Gandhi’s statement that Congress is positive about forming alliances, AAP is hopeful about a tie-up. But it is waiting for an official word from the Congress to take the process forward.
Immediately after Gandhi’s statement, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said AAP leaders will discuss the situation following it.
“No official discussion or talks have started till now with Congress about the alliance.In the wake of Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the alliance, AAP top leadership will decide the future course of action. The alliance is important to stop the dictatorship of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Our priority is to stop BJP,” Singh said.
The latest development seems to have cleared confusion from the minds of AAP leaders and also a section of Congress leaders pushing for an alliance.
In the last few months, AAP leaders made several attempts to convince Rahul Gandhi of the significance of alliance. Later, leaders of Delhi Congress also told him that the alliance was important to defeat BJP. The ball was in Gandhi’s court and leaders in AAP and Congress had been eagerly waiting to know his opinion.
Now that it is clear that Rahul Gandhi is open for an alliance, the focus will shift to seat-sharing and across the table discussion between leaders of the two parties. Seat sharing won’t be easy as both parties want bigger chunks.
Sources say to AAP’s offer of giving two seats, Congress has offered four to AAP and wants three for itself. There’s also a buzz that says Congress has offered AAP one seat in Haryana but none in Punjab.
Congress’s Delhi offer is based on a 4:3 ratio calculated on the basis of seats won by Congress and AAP in the 2017 municipal elections. AAP had won 49 seats and Congress 31 after getting 26% and 21% vote share. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, AAP had received 33% of votes while Congress 15%. Put together, the vote share of Congress and AAP is 48% which is 2% higher than BJP’s 46% vote share.
AAP has already announced its candidates on all the seven seats, and all of them have been working in their respective constituencies to connect with the voters. If the alliance works out, AAP will have to drop a few candidates.
According to sources, Congress has sought New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North West Delhi seats or one of the two trans-Yamuna seats. Those two seats (North East and East) are important keeping in mind the sizeable number of unauthorized colonies and Purvanchali voters. Congress believes that to have a grip on these two important voter blocks, it needs to have one of these seats, said Congress sources.
The Haryana seat-sharing will be tougher. If AAP agrees to give three seats to Congress in Delhi, it will want more than one seat in Haryana and at least two in Punjab where it has four sitting MPs.
The window to sort out all this is short because nomination in Delhi will begin from April 16. But sources said that AAP might agree to leave Punjab entirely to Congress and settle for an alliance in Delhi and Haryana.