Aam Aadmi Party’s Gujarat unit chief Isudan Gadhvi on August 6 claimed that the AAP and the Congress would contest the Lok Sabha polls jointly in Gujarat, a proposal dismissed by State Congress leaders immediately.
Earlier Mr. Gadhvi told media persons that the AAP and the Congress would fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls under a seat-sharing formula as both parties were members of the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance).
However, Gujarat Congress spokesman Manish Doshi said the local party unit was not aware of any such proposal and held that the central leadership of the Congress would take a call on the alliance.
“Both the AAP and the Congress are part of the INDIA alliance against the BJP-led NDA. This poll alliance will also be implemented in Gujarat. Though the talks of a tie-up are still at the primary level, it is sure that both the AAP and the Congress will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat under a seat-sharing formula,” Mr. Gadhvi said.
“If everything goes as planned, the alliance of the Congress and the AAP will not allow the ruling BJP to win all 26 seats in Gujarat this time,” Mr. Gadhvi told reporters.
There are 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and the ruling party has held all the seats in the last two parliamentary polls in 2014 and 2019.
It may be noted that in the last Assembly polls in 2022, the BJP won the landslide victory with 156 seats out of 182 due to the division of votes in a triangular contest involving the Congress and the AAP besides the BJP.
The AAP had won five seats but it emerged number two in over two dozen Assembly seats that led to the rout of the principal opposition Congress at the hustings.
Of late, hundreds of Congress workers and local leaders who have moved to the AAP in the run-up to the Assembly polls have returned to the Congress.
According to the Congress insiders, the local leaders have not even given a thought to the idea of alliance between the Congress and the AAP in the State.
