New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has called a meeting of its Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on February 13 to decide on the candidates for the Lok Sabha seats in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat, giving a clear indication that the AAP-Congress alliance may not work out in these states. AAP has already announced three candidates in Assam and one in Gujarat.
AAP is included in the India bloc of opposition parties but the issue of seat sharing between AAP and Congress is not yet clear while the former has started finalising the names of its candidates who would contest at the upcoming elections.
According to AAP leaders, since the Lok Sabha polls are around the corner, they do not have much time to spare. As new candidates need to prepare more it is going ahead with announcing the names, they said.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP and organisation general secretary Sandeep Pathak said, "We are here to win the elections. We have to go to the polls not solely to contest but to win. The purpose of forming an alliance is to win the elections, that is why everything should be done in a time-bound manner. Talks regarding seat sharing have been going on for a long time. The party will remain as a part of the India alliance with honesty and strength. AAP will follow the religion of alliance. We are hopeful that the talks will be completed very soon."
Pathak further said that if the party concentrates only in talks then it will lose out precious time. "When will we contest elections if we engage only in talks? We are in talks regarding seat sharing in Delhi. We are a responsible and sensible partner of the India alliance. For Punjab, the state units of AAP and Congress agreed that both the parties will contest elections separately there," he said.
Three prominent AAP leaders namely Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, arrested in excise policy case, will not be able to participate at the PAC meeting. Leaders including Raghav Chadha, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Atishi, Sandeep Pathak, Gopal Rai and many others are expected at the meeting.
PAC, the highest decision-making body of AAP, is headed by party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
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