Gopal Rai said, “For Congress, their arrogance is bigger than national interest, it is visible from the recent statements of Punjab CM and Sheila Dikshit.” (Express photo: Amit Mehra) Gopal Rai said, “For Congress, their arrogance is bigger than national interest, it is visible from the recent statements of Punjab CM and Sheila Dikshit.” (Express photo: Amit Mehra)

A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rejected any possibility of an alliance with the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, party leader Gopal Rai Friday reiterated their resolve saying, “We were ready to drink the poison of tying up with Congress for the greater good but have realised that Congress continues to be its old arrogant self. There will be no alliance.” The leader was addressing a press conference in the national capital.

Rai also said, “Our party will contest Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, we will contest alone. For Congress, their arrogance is bigger than national interest, it is visible from the recent statements of Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and Sheila Dikshit ji.”

On Thursday, AAP said that it will have no truck with the Congress in “2019 or beyond”. “The Congress should not be under any illusion that we want an alliance. We will contest all seats in Delhi, Punjab, Goa. The CM has been saying repeatedly that voting for the Congress will strengthen the BJP’s prospects. The Congress has no organisation left in Delhi. There is no question of any alliance in 2019 or beyond,” AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj told The Indian Express.

The newly appointed president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) Sheila Dikshit spoke to the Indian Express Thursday about the challenges, possible alliance with AAP and where opposition parties stand ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

When asked which are the main areas where she believes the AAP government has failed in Delhi, the Congress leader said, “The AAP government has mostly spent (its time) on advertising their work rather than actually doing anything on the ground. My aim is to first identify those loopholes where they have failed. The gap between promises and results has to be filled. We will get deeper into this… Many who come to me say the AAP believes in exaggerating rather than doing.”

Dikshit, when asked about any chance of an alliance with the AAP, outrightly said, “No, even if we receive a proposal from them, we will not go for a coalition.”

Meanwhile, the Delhi Congress has fixed responsibilities for three working presidents. According to the decision taken by Sheila Dikshit, EDMC and four Vidhan sabhas will be taken care of by Haroon Yusuf, South MCD and youth congress by Devendra Yadav and North MCD by Rajesh Lilothia.

On the other hand, a senior AAP leader said Kejriwal, who will attend a major gathering of opposition leaders on January 19 to be hosted by the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata, is likely to announce the names of AAP Lok Sabha candidates for Delhi and Punjab.

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