Maken, Phoolka’s exit fuels rumours of AAP-CONG pact

NEW DELHI: The exit of Ajay Maken from Delhi Congress and HS Phoolka from the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) may pave the way for a rumoured alliance between the two parties for the next year’s general elections, insiders in both the parties say.

Both Maken and Phoolka were opposed to their parties joining hands.

AAP leaders, on condition of anonymity, said informal talks between the two parties for an alliance were on until mid December. “There were talks. But the Congress walked out after the controversy over a Delhi assembly resolution, mentioning former PM Rajiv Gandhi,” a senior AAP leader said.

The party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, said AAP will “wait and watch” the political situation. “As of now, there are no alliances,” he said.

On December 30, after AAP’S national council meeting, party’s Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai said the party “will cooperate with others (parties) to remove the autocratic rule of the (Narendra) Modi government”. AAP plans to contest all Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Goa and Chandigarh.

AAP was caught in a controversy last month after some of its legislators sought a resolution to be passed in the Delhi assembly, demanding withdrawal of the Bharat Ratna awarded to Gandhi. The Delhi Congress, led by Ajay Maken, had criticised the move and staged a protest outside AAP’S office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. The Congress had sought an apology from AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal.

Maken, according to Congress leaders, had been vocal with his view that the party should not engage in any seat-sharing arrangement with the AAP. Even when senior party leader and three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit quipped “the party high-command so decided”, in response to a question on a pre-poll alliance between Congress and AAP, Maken expressed his opposition to the idea.