New Delhi: After the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s joint show drew a blank in the national capital with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retaining all seven parliamentary seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav has ruled out any alliance with AAP for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections which are scheduled to be held in 2025.
In an interview with The Wire, Yadav – who was brought in after former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the party and joined the BJP days before the elections – said that the decision to ally with the AAP was not a wrong one.
“I wouldn’t say that [it was a wrong decision]. There are instances where there are many compulsions and in many cases for a larger interest you have to give up smaller interests. The decision in Delhi was taken in this regard. But it is certain now that Delhi elections are approaching, in this election we will fight individually and strongly. And we will be able to reclaim the space that we had lost earlier,” he said.
Yadav said that the Congress cadre has become enthused after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results in which they won a total of 99 seats. When asked if an alliance with the AAP is off the table, Yadav said that it is certain that the Congress will go it alone in the Delhi assembly elections.
“Yes it is absolutely certain. Our cadre is enthused and they have been instilled with hope. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, I am also ready to take everyone together. So we are certain to get good results,” he said.
As a part of the INDIA alliance, Congress and AAP fought three and four seats respectively in Delhi. Despite being part of a national alliance, the two parties contested separately in Punjab, where the Congress won seven of the total 13 seats and the AAP won three. In Haryana, where the two parties fought together, the Congress won five of the total 10 seats while the remaining were won by the BJP.
“In Punjab, we were the main opposition party and because the AAP has its government there, we decided to take a stern decision to fight individually. We had worked hard and strengthened our organisation because of which we were able to win 7 of the 13 seats. The AAP, which claimed it would win 13 seats, won only 3. Delhi’s situation was different. When I got the command for Delhi, Lovely, who was only recently appointed the president, joined the BJP. It is true that we fell short in Delhi and made some mistakes because of which we were not able to open our account in Delhi in the last two Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
“But we have been able to work to re-establish our connection with the common people. We made a genuine effort. It is true that the president leaving before the elections affected the cadre, but we are happy that because Lovely has switched before as well, we did not face any limitations but the perception did go out to the people. But I am happy that there is an atmosphere where we have emerged as a strong opposition and the cadre is feeling enthused and re-energised. The AAP’s poor performance in the election will benefit the Congress in the coming days.”
