In a development that assumes significance in the backdrop of efforts to forge an opposition alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and speculation whether the Congress will ally with the Aam Aadmi Party, especially in Delhi, the central leadership of the party today directed the party's state unit to begin preparation for the 2024 polls in all seven seats in the national capital.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a meeting of party leaders from Delhi to discuss preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal were also present in the discussion. As many as 40 leaders from the party's Delhi unit attended the meeting.
The meeting lasted for around four hours, and the discussions are significant in the backdrop of speculation whether the Congress will ally with the AAP in Delhi and other states.
However, the indications from the meeting are that the party would want to reclaim its pole position in the capital and its unease with the idea of entering into an alliance with the AAP is evident.
After the meeting, Delhi Congress leader Alka Lamba said that the emphasis of the central leadership in the meeting was on strengthening the organisation in Delhi and its clear instruction to the state's leaders is that they should prepare for elections in all seven seats in the capital.
“It was discussed how the organisation in Delhi, which has weakened, must be strengthened. The issues that important in Delhi were discussed. We have been asked by the central leadership to prepare in all seven seats,” she said.
When asked about the possibility of the Congress entering into an alliance with the AAP, she said no discussion has taken place on that so far. She said the party leaders have been asked to prepare the organisation for elections in all the seven seats, and if any decision is taken on an alliance with the AAP, that is a different matter. “We will keep our preparation up to the mark,” she emphasised.
According to sources, Rahul spoke about his visits to different parts of Delhi and his interaction with the people. He is learnt to have said that there is a positive sentiment amongst the people for the Congress and it should capitalise on it.
Both Kharge and Rahul, sources said, asked the Delhi unit to get the poll preparation going in all seven seats of Delhi. It was recalled in the meeting by leaders that the Congress had emerged the number two party in all the seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and that the contest in the parliamentary polls in the capital was between the Congress and the BJP.
The state leaders are learnt to have expressed their reservations about doing business with the AAP. Rahul is learnt to have responded to their question on why the Congress supported the AAP on the ordinance on services in Parliament by stating that the backing was not for the AAP but the party had voted against an “unconstitutional move” of the Modi government.
Many leaders from Delhi are learnt to have stressed that the AAP has grown at the cost of the Congress and its vote in the capital has gone to the AAP. They spoke about having campaigned against the AAP all along, including on the issue of the excise policy.
The decisions taken at the Congress' meeting on Delhi come ahead of the opposition INDIA alliance's next meeting scheduled to be held on August 31 and September 1 in Mumbai.