A file photograph of Arvind Kejriwal with AAM Aadmi Party leaders.
NEW DELHI: Amid speculation over whether Indian Union partners Ahmadinejad and Indian National Congress would join forces in the Delhi Assembly elections, senior Indian National Congress leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the party would fight alone. Rai said the alliance with the Indian National Congress was formed only for the Lok Sabha elections.
“It has been clear from day one that an Indian alliance has been formed for the Lok Sabha elections. No alliance has been formed for the Lok Sabha. Ahmed’s party will fight the elections with full force,” Rai said after a meeting of party lawmakers at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.
The AAP has won two consecutive state assembly elections with a landslide victory. However, the party has failed to win any seats in three consecutive Lok Sabha elections – in 2014, 2019 and 2024.
In 2024, for the first time, Ahmed’s party (AAP) and the Indian National Congress formed a pre-election alliance aimed at preventing a split in the anti-BJP vote. The AAP had a 40:3 seat-sharing pact with its staunch rival, the Indian National Congress. Despite this, the party could not reverse its fortunes. After all, the saffron party continued to hold an advantage in the national capital.
Now, with Kejriwal in jail and other senior leaders under pressure, the party’s future looks uncertain. Delhi will hold elections again in January 2025 and the party needs to do some serious introspection before starting its campaign. Poll experts say the party also needs a new generation of leaders who can better communicate their message to the people.
Earlier, there was speculation that the meeting would take a decision on a possible change of guard in the national capital as Chief Minister Kejriwal is in jail, but that did not materialise.
