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Updated: Jan 18, 2019 18:18 IST

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party on Friday firmly shut the door on the possibility of any alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections later this year, declaring that the party was going to contest all seats in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.

Delhi minister Gopal Rai said the AAP had been open to an alliance with the Congress to beat the BJP but now, had had given up. “We were ready to drink poison (compromise with the Congress). But now, we have decided that AAP will contest on all seats in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana with its full strength and will not have any alliance with the Congress,” Rai said, according to news agency IANS.

Rai’s statement was a departure from his stand just yesterday when he signalled that AAP had an open mind on a pact. “It is very difficult to say,” he had told reporters.

Today, Rai elaborated on the change in stance.

Also Read | Ajay Maken, HS Phoolka’s exit fuels buzz about AAP-Congress pact

He said AAP leaders had reservations about tying up with the Congress. “(But) we, too, were ready to think about joining hands to save the nation from the dictatorship of (Narendra) Modi-(Amit) Shah,” he said.

The AAP leader said Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s statement that the AAP does not have any value in Punjab and Congress Delhi Chief Sheila Dikshit remarks on AAP being a small party had persuaded Arvind Kejriwal’s party to change its stance.

The first hint that AAP is revisiting its stand had come on Twitter before the formal announcement when AAP leaders started retweeting jibes at Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit, accusing her of corruption in her last stint as chief minister.

She's #CorruptSheila and she's unhappy that Delhi has an honest government. https://t.co/lUgekcJ6wM — Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) January 18, 2019

Sheila Dikshit led the Congress in the 2013 assembly elections when AAP made its debut in electoral politics. The BJP emerged as the largest party but it was still short of the majority mark. AAP, which emerged as the second largest party, came to power with outside support of the Congress.

Also Watch: No alliance with AAP as of now: Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit

But Arvind Kejriwal, who became the chief minister, resigned after 49 days and sought a fresh mandate. In the state elections held after a spell of President’s rule, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP captured a record-smashing 67 of the 70 assembly seats and wiped out the Congress. Three seats went to the BJP.

Dikshit initially appeared open to the possibility of an alliance, particularly when she stressed that it was a decision to be taken by the party brass. But AAP leaders have pointed to Dikshit’s subsequent statements that they feel, were designed to slight the party by raising questions about the AAP government’s track record.