New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is unlikely to go against the wishes of party leaders from Delhi and Punjab, who are not in favour of an alliance with the AAP ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Kharge, however, may meet AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal though Congress is unlikely to support Kejriwal on central ordinance issue.
“The party chief may or may not meet Kejriwal but is unlikely to go against the views of the Delhi and Punjab leaders, who do not want any alliance with the AAP for the 2024 polls and are against supporting Kejriwal over a central ordinance related to control of officers in the national capital,” an AICC functionary said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, Kharge discussed the ordinance and 2024 pact issues with senior leaders from Delhi and Punjab following a request from Kejriwal to meet the Congress chief on May 26. Kejriwal had dialed Kharge to seek his support on April 15, a day after the chief minister was summoned by the CBI in the Delhi liquor scam. The talks of having an alliance with AAP had started during the Budget Session of Parliament when AAP members used to join strategy sessions convened by Kharge in his capacity as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress-led unity of 19 parties was able to exert pressure on the government as a block and assert its demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue. Later, Kejriwal had supported the Congress after the Lok Sabha membership of Rahul Gandhi was taken away after his conviction in a defamation case.
However, the Delhi and Punjab leaders, who were directly fighting the AAP in the two states, regularly attacked Kejriwal over various issues.
Yet, the AICC took a lenient view keeping in mind the larger focus on forging an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the fact that Kejriwal was friendly with many opposition parties like TMC, BRS, NCP, Shiv Sena UBT and the CPI-M.
During the Monday meeting, former Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken strongly opposed having any truck with AAP and having any pact with the party for the 2024 national polls. The other senior Delhi leaders like JP Agarwal, Anil Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Subhash Chopra, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Haroon Yusuf too shared Maken’s views, said the sources, adding that the Punjab leaders too expressed similar sentiments.
