Contrary to what the Congress and the AAP claim in public, there was serious effort at forming the government in Delhi by both but it did not work out.

Contrary to what the Congress and the AAP claim in public, there was serious effort at forming the government in Delhi by both but it did not work out. After the party’s humiliating defeat in the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, Congress legislators in Delhi wanted to extend support to the Aam Aadmi Party once again, but Rahul Gandhi decided against it. There was a strong attempt from AAP in this direction too.

Sources in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) confirmed that both parties were “in touch and exploring options for government formation”. “Two AAP leaders – one a journalist and the other Delhi-based senior leader of the party – had approached us to discuss the possibility of forming an AAP-led government here. Even AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had met Mrs Gandhi (the Congress president). But Rahulji rejected the proposal and decided to go for fresh polls,” said a senior leader of the party, who declined to be identified, said.

They said that the AAP leaders had even gone to the extent of offering chief ministerial position to Congress. “They were willing to accept DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely as the new chief minister but a section of the party was of the view that the party should neither extend nor offer any support to the AAP,” the sources said.

The source, however, sees merit in Rahul Gandhi's decision. “By not fielding its candidates in Haryana and Maharashtra, AAP has proved that it supports the BJP. There is no reason why we should extend support to a party which has benefitted the saffron party,” he told Firstpost.

“Congress never withdrew support to AAP government. Kejriwal quit the government and left the people of Delhi in a lurch to gain political mileage in the Lok Sabha polls. As they did not succeed in the Lok Sabha polls, they are talking about forming government again,” one of them said.

Explaining the reason why Rahul refused to accept AAP’s proposal, another party insider said, “Most of the eight MLAs of the party wanted an AAP-led government with our outside support but our karyakarta (workers) were not in its favour. Rahul had to take the decision to prevent the morale of the party’s foot soldiers from going down.”

He said Team Rahul was of the opinion that extending support to the AAP will not at all help the Congress party. Rather it would be detrimental for the party as AAP leaders will manage to get control over the constituencies being represented by the Congress, he revealed.

“After its spectacular performance in the assembly polls, the AAP drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls though its candidate came second in all the seven constituencies relegating all the sitting Congress members of Parliament, including Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken and Krishna Tirath to the third position. Had we extended support to AAP once again, it would have been extremely difficult for us to snatch the lost seats from them,” he said.

Contrary to the argument, a Congress MLA told Firstpost, “By forming the government and working aggressively on the ground, we could have restore people’s confidence in us. But now, it is extremely difficult to secure even five seats against this strong Modi wave.”

“It appears that the party has not taken any lesson from its worst ever drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls. The government would have given us the chance to work in our constituencies, raising issues of larger interest in the House and bringing to the fore the shortcoming of the AAP and its faulty policies. It would have helped the party’s future prospect,” he said.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP not only won all seven seats but also came first in 60 assembly segments out of 70, while the AAP occupied top position only in 10 assembly segments. Following the party’s dismal performance, some MLAs of the AAP on Saturday had mooted a proposal for the party to once again form government in Delhi, with support from either the BJP or the Congress. Sources in the AAP said majority of sitting MLAs in the party did not want fresh election immediately thinking the “Modi wave” may flatten them all if polls are held anytime soon.