‘AAP not part of any coalition or alliance’

The BJP has to be stopped and challenged for the economic betterment of the nation

Sanjay Singh, AAP leader

new delhi — The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is maintaining its distance from the Congress while being aggressive in its anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stance, appears to have still not decided whether or not to do business with main opposition party in parliament in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh hinted as much when he said that there is a need for an anti-BJP formation to checkmate the saffron party ahead of the general elections. But on the question of a tieup with Congress, he said the stage has not come as yet and the Congress has not approached it to be part of an alliance.

“There is no initiative from the Congress or from the AAP for an alliance. In the three states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh) where we fought the assembly elections, we did not have a tie-up with the Congress anywhere. First, there should be talks (between the two sides) and an initiative to actually know if we are comfortable together or not. There is no initiative from the Congress or from the AAP for an alliance,” Singh said in an interview.

The BJP swept Delhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning all the seven seats, while the AAP emerged as the main party in the assembly polls a year later, winning a staggering 67 of the 70 seats.

Though there has been no direct political contact between the Congress and the AAP, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shared the stage last week at a farmers rally and a similar rally at Janatar Mantar. Both were also present at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy earlier this year.

Supporting the idea of a coalition by terming it the need of the hour to stop the BJP, Singh asserted that it was important for the nation and for democracy that the opposition parties are united against the BJP throughout the country.

However, he also said although the AAP is not part of any alliance or coalition, its “anti-BJP stand” is clear and so the party welcomes any sort of alliance to fight communal politics in the country.

“The BJP has to be stopped and challenged for the economic betterment of the nation.” —