Congress finalises 4 candidates in Delhi, Sheila Dikshit may contest from East Delhi
NEW DELHI : With the negotiations on finalising an alliance with the AAP reaching a dead-end, the Congress has finalised its candidates for four out of seven seats in Delhi and an official announcement is likely to be made soon, according to AIICC sources told Newstrack24x7.com today.
Sources said so far, the Congress has zeroed in on seven names for all constituencies. Sheila Dikshit, who heads the party’s Delhi unit, is likely to contest from East Delhi, sources said, since her son Sandeep Dikshit has decided not to contest.
The sources said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit’s name was under discussion as a probable from East Delhi seat. The Congress has decided to focus on deciding its line-up for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi after party chief Rahul Gandhi’s twitter outreach to Aam Aadmi Party yesterday received an acrimonious response from Arvind Kejriwal. Party sources, however, indicted that there is room for change if AAP happens to fall in line.
After days of needling by Arvind Kejriwal, with allegations that the Congress was in league with the BJP, Mr Gandhi yesterday tweeted, “An alliance between the Congress and AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up four Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U-turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out”.
Sources said so far, the Congress has zeroed in on seven names for all constituencies. Sheila Dikshit, who heads the party’s Delhi unit, is likely to contest from East Delhi, sources said, since her son Sandeep Dikshit has decided not to contest. Party sources, however, indicted that there is room for change if AAP happens to fall in line.
Ms Dikshit’s predecessor in the state unit, Ajay Maken, is likely to contest from New Delhi. Kapil Sibal, a sitting member of Rajya Sabha, is likely to be fielded from Chandi Chowk, which he represented twice earlier. The other former parliamentarians expected to contest are Mahabal Mishra, JP Agrawal, Ramesh Sharma and Rajkumar Chauhan.
Chacko announced that the party will go alone, but maintained that it is still willing to have an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party provided the tie-up is restricted only to the national capital. The AAP, however, said the tie-up can only be done on 33 Lok Sabha seats across four states and one Union Territory.
Soon after the Congress announcement, the AAP announced a tie-up with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for Haryana. The JJP was launched by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s grandson Dushyant Chautala, following a power struggle in the state’s main opposition INLD last year.
Uncertainty over alliance between the AAP and the Congress has been continuing for weeks now with the former demanding an alliance on 33 seats of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh. The talks between the two sides derailed after they failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing in Delhi and Haryana. However, sources said the AAP in a last-ditch attempt may offer a 5:2 seat sharing formula to the Congress in Delhi.
Earlier, the AAP was ready to give three seats to the Congress in Delhi but now it might consider giving it just two seats, the sources added. Negotiations with AAP have dragged on for a month, prodded by key opposition leaders including Sharad Pawar, Chandrababu Naidu, MK Stalin, Sitaram Yechury and Mamata Banerjee.
