After Mamata, Bhagwant Mann says AAP in no alliance with Cong in Punjab

INDIA bloc suffered another jolt ahead of Lok Sabha elections, as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ‘will not go with Congress’ in the state, hours after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said that the party will contest alone in her state.

While addressing the media, Mann said, “The AAP is not going with Congress in Punjab.” "The Aam Aadmi Party has shortlisted 40 candidates for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. We are getting a survey done before finalising candidates," Mann said today.

Mann had earlier hinted that the high command would make the final decision on any alliance with Congress. Subsequently, the AAP collaborated with Congress in the mayoral elections for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

AAP leader Raghav Chadha announced in Delhi that this marked the beginning of electoral cooperation within the INDIA bloc, aiming to collectively take on the BJP in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

All eyes have been on the AAP and Congress in Punjab with the Congress leaders vehemently opposing the alliance in the past. They argue that the AAP government in the state had unleashed vendetta on them and several leaders were being arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on charges of corruption and other cases.

Banerjee had announced that there was no tie-up with the Congress in Bengal and any decision on an alliance at the national level will be taken after the election.

"I had no discussions with the Congress. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I gave them (Congress) many proposals... but they rejected them. I am not concerned about what will be done in the (rest of the) country... but we are a secular party and, in Bengal, we alone will defeat BJP," she said.

The Opposition Congress had already started holding meetings in different constituencies, indicating their reluctance to form an alliance with the AAP.

During recent feedback sessions with Congress general secretary in charge Devender Yadav, the party cadre expressed opposition to any alliance. The Congress leaders had confirmed anonymously that no alliance would take place in Punjab.

Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats. The AAP has only one MP from Punjab. The AAP has only one — Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar who had won in Lok Sabha by-election after the seat was vacated following the demise of Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary. The Congress had six sitting MPs.

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