“No Alliance With Congress”: Kejriwal Asserts Solo Fight For AAP in Delhi Assembly Elections

Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Minister of Delhi and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has firmly ruled out any alliance with Congress or other members of the opposition INDIA bloc for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Kejriwal stated, "There will be no alliance in Delhi," reiterating his party's stance of a solo fight ahead of the crucial elections next year.

AAP is part of the united opposition INDIA bloc and went to Lok Sabha polls earlier this year in collaboration with the Congress for New Delhi but BJP managed to win all seven seats in the Union Territory. But during Haryana assembly elections both Congress and AAP failed to reach to a consensus over seat sharing and BJP won the state for the second term in a row. Similarly in Punjab during the 2022 Assembly Election, AAP went solo and managed to win 79% of the seats, 92 of the total 117 seats. 

The Delhi Assembly Elections will determine the composition of the 70-member legislative body, where AAP currently holds 62 seats. The party has already announced its first list of 11 candidates for the 2025 polls, which includes several defectors from the BJP and Congress. Kejriwal’s statement indicates his confidence in the AAP's ability to maintain its dominant position without the need for external support. Congress in the recent Maharashtra Assembly election faired poorly, surprising their own Lok Sabha gains in the state just five months back. 

Kejriwal during the press conference referred to Saturday’s incident during a ‘padyatra’ in Delhi, where a liquid substance was thrown at him by a man, in a clear breach to his security. He termed it a failure of the Union Home Ministry under which comes the Delhi Police. "I had this expectation that Home Minister Amit Shah will take some action after I raised the issue of law & order here… But, instead of that, I was being attacked during my ‘padyatra’. Liquid was thrown at me, it was harmless, but it could have been harmful," Kejriwal said.

He also expressed outrage over the arrest of AAP MLA Naresh Balyan, called him a victim of a conspiracy. Balyan was arrested in connection with an alleged extortion case. "Yesterday, one of our MLAs was arrested. The crime that he (Naresh Balyan) has committed is that he was the victim of gangsters. He had received calls from gangsters for ransom and threats, one to two years back. He had also filed complaints many times," Kejriwal claimed.