Rahul Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress (INC,) on the 5th of March, called for a meeting with the party leaders of the Delhi unit to discuss the Lok Sabha elections and an alliance in the State.
Mr. Gandhi is expected to discuss the possibilities of an alliance between the INC and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP.)
An INC leader confirmed the news and said, “The Congress president has called a meeting, where leaders will chalk out the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections and discuss alliance options.”
The meeting was called after Arvind Kejriwal, the President of the AAP and the Chief Minister of Delhi, on the 2nd of March, announced the names of the 6 candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
It is suspected, the INC will form an alliance with AAP after the meeting and an official announcement regarding the same will be made soon. After the official announcement, the AAP will have to withdraw the names of the 6 candidates and announce new names for the elections.
Speaking about the seat sharing formula, out of 7 seats, both the AAP and the INC will contest 50:50 seats, whereas the one remaining seat will be left for an independent candidate. The independent candidate is said to be Yashwant Sinha, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
According to sources, Mr. Kejriwal was tired of convincing the INC to form an alliance, following which, he announced the names of the candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The AAP was approaching the INC to initiate an alliance and fight against the BJP Government, however, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee rejected the proposal and denied to join hands with the AAP.
The strategy behind the alliance is to ensure the majority of the seats are in favour of the INC and the AAP in Delhi, which will decrease the winning chances of the BJP.
The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled between April and May 2019 and the major parties contesting are the BJP and the INC.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.
