A meeting between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party was held on Monday (January 8) to discuss seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections this year. Several leaders of both parties were present during the meeting in the national capital. AAP and Congress are partners in the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A bloc formed to dislodge the BJP government from power at the Centre. After the last meeting of the alliance leaders in Delhi last month, discussions on seat-sharing have begun among various parties for different states.
In the Congress-AAP meeting, Mukul Wasnik, Ashok Gehlot, Mohan Prakash, Arvinder Singh Lovely were present from the Congress party while Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Sandeep Pathak represented the AAP.
Congress leaders Salman Khurshid, who had a court hearing, and Bhupesh Baghel, who lost his father this morning, could not be present at the meeting.
The meeting was held to discuss the seat-sharing of the two parties in Delhi and Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections.
Delhi has 7 Lok Sabha seats while Punjab has 13 seats.
Gehlot reacts
Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, after the meeting, said that every party has to make sacrifices when such a large alliance is formed. He said that "if the alliance succeeds", Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not return to power the next time.
"Nobody should get involved in what anyone is saying. When such a large alliance is formed, everyone has to compromise and make sacrifices. Congress has taken the initiative and a good message has gone across the country and the process is going ahead...If the alliance succeeds, then it should not come as a surprise that PM Modi won't be able to form the government the next time," he said.
Mukul Wasnik on meeting with AAP
After the meeting, Congress leader Mukul Wasnik termed the discussions "very fruitful", and said that discussions will take place in the future as well with AAP as it is an "important" part of the Opposition alliance.
"The meeting was very meaningful. Both the parties put forward their views regarding the coordination of seats. Very soon there will be coordination of seats with Aam Aadmi Party. Aam Aadmi Party India is an important and strong party of the alliance. There will be more discussion with you further," he said.
"We had a meeting for about 2 hours in a very good atmosphere. There has been discussion on how elections should be contested on a seat," he added.
According to sources, there was no discussion on Punjab in the meeting.
