Why Arvind Kejriwal doesn’t want to ally with Delhi Congress?
The Aam Aadmi Party has decided not to ally with the Congress in the Delhi elections. Party president Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday put an end to speculations about AAP’s alliance with Congress. Kejriwal made it clear that AAP will contest the Delhi elections alone.
Discussions about an alliance between AAP and Congress got a boost when Arvind Kejriwal came to meet senior leader Sharad Pawar. The meeting between the two was attended by Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Congress president coordinator Gurdeep Singh Thapar.
Both the AAP and the Congress belong to the Indian Alliance and the two parties fight side by side in the Delhi Lok Sabha. In this case, the discussion is why Arvind Kejriwal does not want to take the Congress party to the assembly elections?
1. Worry about suppressing local issues in elections
The Aam Aadmi Party aims to contest the Delhi Assembly elections on local issues. This is why Arvind Kejriwal keeps raising Delhi’s petty issues. On Tuesday, AAP announced five guarantees for auto drivers in Delhi.
Likewise, the AAP is keeping a close eye on bus drivers and other small groups. The AAP has raised the issue of free water and free electricity. AAP also takes the issue of sanitation workers very seriously.
The AAP also benefits from campaigning on local issues. AAP won resoundingly in the 2013, 2015 and 2020 assembly elections. If AAP supports Congress, then the entire election will be at the national level.
The BJP will target the Congress more than the DAP in the elections. The party has also adopted this strategy in Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. This is a big reason not to ally with the Congress.
2. Congress does not have its own vote bank
The Congress party, which was in power in Delhi from 1998 to 2013, no longer has a strong vote bank of its own. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress party received 4.26% of the votes, which was much lower than the 9.6% in 2015. Congress could not win a single seat in 2015 and 2020.
Currently, the Congress has neither a vote bank nor a strong organization in Delhi. No new appointments have been made at the district level. The state chairman is also temporarily in charge of the party.
This was also cited as an important reason for the decision not to ally with the Congress. Instead of allying with the Congress, the AAP is targeting candidates from the big parties with strong vote banks.
In this series, the party gave tickets to Zubair, son of Chaudhry Martin Ahmed from Seerampur and Veer Singh Dingan from Seemapuri.
3. Muslims are heading towards a victorious party
This time Congress is busy courting Muslims. The party wants to open an account in Delhi through Muslims. In line with this strategy, the party appointed Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin to be in charge of Delhi. Delhi has about 12% Muslim voters, which determines the equation for about 10 seats.
Seats where Muslims played an important role in victory or defeat include Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Babarpur, Mustafabad, Seelampur, Okhla, Trilokpuri, Jangpura.
However, judging from the Muslim voting pattern in the past five years, Muslims only vote for those parties that are capable of defeating the BJP. This is an example from Bengal to Bihar and from Uttar Pradesh to Maharashtra.
The Aam Aadmi Party has a stronger position than the Congress Party.
4. Don’t want to hand over Sanjeevani to Delhi Congress
In Delhi, the Congress won zero seats in two consecutive elections. The party does not have any popular faces in the capital. The organization is also in a very weak state. If the Congress contests the elections with the support of AAP, it may win some seats in the changed equation.
The AAP, which became a national party through its political activities against the Congress, does not want to revive it in Delhi. This is also the reason why AAP directly rejected the alliance request.
You are also angry that you were not given a seat in Haryana. The AAP wanted to join the Congress in fighting the Haryana Assembly elections, but the Congress refused to accept its demands.
5. The Lok Sabha experiment failed
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Aam Aadmi Party is campaigning together with the Congress Party in Delhi. As per the agreement, AAP will field 4 out of 7 seats in Delhi and 3 seats in Congress.
Both parties are contesting all seven seats in Delhi with the BJP. Despite a lot of struggle, the BJP won all the seven seats. Interestingly, the Congress candidate cited lack of alliance support as the reason for defeat.
