Presidential election 2017: Congress says AAP has no 'national significance', excludes it from Opposition meet

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has no “national significance” to be part of the opposition’s deliberations on the Presidential election and the party should rather settle its internal problems first. [caption id=“attachment_3431638” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] Senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma, asked about the Congress and NCP decision not to include the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in the opposition’s meetings for the Presidential election, said: “AAP, at this moment, has no national significance.” “I don’t think they should be part of such an important meeting because they are already in difficulty these days, they have internal problems. They should settle that first instead of advising others how to work,” he added. On evolving a consensus candidate, he said: “The government should understand that it should be a consensus candidate. If a consensus is arrived at, it will be a good thing. Let us wait for now. Let meetings and discussions take place,” Sharma said. Asked if the Congress really thought the government was serious about a consensus candidate, Sharma said: “I don’t understand their thoughts, but I do understand their mindset, which is anti-nation.” His comments come a day before senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu are to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday in a bid to evolve consensus on the presidential candidate. They are to also meet CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury later in the day.