LS polls: AAP, Congress hold meeting, discuss strategy to cooperate in campaigning

Delving into the political intricacies of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, a pivotal meeting between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress party under the banner of the INDIA Alliance Co-ordination Committee transpired on Tuesday.

The meeting witnessed the participation of notable figures including AAP's National General Secretary (Organization) and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, alongside key members from both camps.

AAP was represented by MCD in-charge and MLA Durgesh Pathak and the Congress unit was led by Delhi Congress in-charge Deepak Babaria and interim president Devendra Yadav.

The leaders of both parties also discussed the electoral strategy for Haryana.

Speaking about the 'Coordination Committee' meeting, AAP leader Sandeep Pathak said, "Many meetings have already taken place between the AAP and Congress, we had another meeting on Tuesday. The top leadership of Delhi and Haryana participated in this meeting from the Congress side. We held a meeting to start election campaign coordination at the grassroots level."

He said that "very positive discussion" took place between both the parties and the two parties have created a system through which they will cooperate in campaigning for each other.

Pathak said that coordination between the two parties will first take place at the Lok Sabha level and then at the assembly level.

"We have made a commitment to each other. We have created a system in which we will cooperate in campaigning for each other and contest the elections together. This will be implemented first at the Lok Sabha level. After that, coordination will be done at the assembly level," he added.

Sandeep Pathak further said that the biggest question facing the country today is to "save the country's democracy" and exuded confidence that INDIA bloc will win all seven seats in the capital.

"We have to liberate the country from the dictatorship of the Modi government. The central government is dismantling government institutions one by one. All the constitutional agencies are working at the whims and fancies of the Central Government," Pathak said.

"We need to cooperate with each other to save the country from the dictatorship of the Modi government. That is why both the parties are ready and united. There was a very positive discussion between both parties. Coordination is already going on between the two parties, now the discussion was about how it can be taken forward. This time in the Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA Alliance will win and the BJP will lose. INDIA Alliance will win all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi," the Rajya Sabha MP added.

According to the seat-sharing agreement under the INDIA bloc, the Congress is fighting on 3 seats in Delhi while the AAP is contesting on 4 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

AAP is contesting on one seat in Haryana (Kurukshetra) and two seats in Gujarat (Bhavnagar and Bharuch).

The Congress has nominated JP Aggarwal from Chandni Chowk, Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi and Udit Raj from Delhi North West.

The elections to the seven seats of Delhi will be held on May 25 and the results of all Lok Sabha seats will be declared on June 4.

Notably, the BJP has been winning all seven seats in Delhi for last two Lok Sabha elections.

However, a section of the Delhi Congress unit has been against the alliance with AAP.

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned on Sunday expressing his reservation over the alliance between AAP and Congress. Protesting Congress workers said they "need local candidate". He also said he did not get the freedom to select party functionaries.

Lovely wrote in his resignation letter that the Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party "which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress Party," adding "despite that, the party made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi...," he said. (ANI)