Congress willing to give 4 seats in Delhi: Rahul on alliance with AAP

New Delhi: Amid a huge row for an alliance between Congress and Aam Aadmi party (AAP) for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Rahul Gandhi came forward for the first time on Monday in speaking about the seat-sharing deal that would rout the ruling party.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out".

Hitting out at Gandhi on Twitter, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal said, "What U-turn. The talks are still on." Your tweet shows that an alliance is not your desire but only a pretension. I am pained that you are giving mere statements," he said.

"Today, the foremost issue is to save the country from the threat of Modi-Shah. Unfortunately, you are helping Modi by dividing anti-Modi votes in Uttar Pradesh and in some other states," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

The seat-sharing arrangement of four for AAP and three for Congress has been arrived at on the basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here, they said.

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On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said his party will do anything to "save the country" from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

The AAP supremo was addressing a press conference here after a meeting of opposition parties to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning in the ongoing parliamentary election. "The country is in danger. We will do anything to save it. Our effort to save the country from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will continue," Kejriwal said.

Congress leaders and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who were also present on the occasion, however, dodged questions on an alliance with the AAP and threw the ball in Kejriwal's court saying, "He knows better". "You ask him about the alliance. He knows better than us," Sibal said, even as Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "You know the stand of Congress. The alliance was almost done in Delhi but linking it with other states is not right."

The uncertainty over an alliance between the AAP and the Congress has been continuing for some time now.

The talks between the two sides derailed after they failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing in Delhi and Haryana.

Congress' in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko had said on Friday that the Congress would go it alone in Delhi since the AAP had taken an "impractical stand".

AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia although said on Saturday that his party was ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh but it would not agree for a tie-up just in the national capital.

(With inputs from agencies)

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