“We will definitely carry out (joint) operations. We will hold meetings and a plan will be made,” he said.
New Delhi:
The ruling party’s Rajya Sabha MP from the national capital, Sandeep Pathak, said Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will run a joint campaign in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and meetings will be held soon to chalk out a plan for the same. Said.
In an interview with PTI, Pathak, who is also AAP’s national general secretary (organisation), said the seat-sharing arrangement for the election was mutually decided by the parties after which AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) ) came to a conclusion.
“We will definitely conduct (joint) operations. We will hold meetings and a plan will be made,” Pathak said.
“We discussed the (Congress) candidates in detail with them and then the PAC reached a decision,” he said.
AAP and Congress have agreed on 4:3 seat sharing for Delhi.
AAP has fielded MLA Somnath Bharti, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board, from the New Delhi constituency; Kondli MLA from East Delhi Kuldeep Kumar; Sahiram Pehalwan from South Delhi and Mahabal Mishra, former MP from West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
Congress has not yet announced its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.
Pathak said, the AAP-Congress alliance will start its election campaign in Delhi and Haryana in the next one week and the announcement for Punjab will be made in the next few days.
When asked how the seats were decided, Pathak said, “We just wanted an alliance for the betterment of the country. The entire country and all the regions have gone bad. So our party wanted to provide an environment where there is freedom.” Pathak said on the selection of candidates.
“The candidates were selected on the basis of their winnability. When it came to seat sharing in the Bharat alliance, Our India was clear that we did not want to be stuck here for one or two seats.” This alliance was very important for India. And so there was no disruption at any point of time, he said.
“Credit also goes to the Congress because they were also very cordial. Once the seats were decided, the candidates were selected on the basis of their public perception and ability to win,” Pathak said.
Parties will have different strategies and pace to launch election campaigns in different states.
“The campaign has already started in Bharuch and Bhavnagar. In the next one week, you will see the campaign starting on a large scale in Delhi as well as Haryana,” he said.
“For Punjab, we will make an announcement in the next few days,” he said.
Talking about AAP’s strengths and areas where it needs improvement, Pathak said that once it comes to power in the central government, the party will be able to serve the people better without interference from the ruling party.
He said the party aims to include “intellectual, young and honest” people in the team to raise important people-centric issues.
On the subject of Ram Mandir, Pathak said that by providing good education, hospitals and honest government, the state government has been able to truly implement the concept of Ram Rajya.
“For us Ram is not a subject of votes. Those who are doing politics on this, only the public will decide and answer.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
