'Spokesperson cannot decide seat-sharing': AAP on Congress' Alka Lamba's 'contesting all seven Delhi seats' remark

A day after Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba said the party will contest all the seven seats in Delhi in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, upsetting the I.N.D.I.A block member Aam Aadmi Party, AAP Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Thursday said the Congress has already given a clarification on the controversy and that “any spokesperson cannot decide” seat-sharing. Addressing the reporters on Thursday, he said, “Congress has given a clarification on the remarks of their spokesperson…A spokesperson of any party cannot take a decision on seat-sharing in any state, this is an important issue and such issues are discussed in the presence of all the parties. Any spokesperson cannot decide this."

#WATCH | AAP Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj says "Congress has given a clarification on the remarks of their spokesperson...A spokesperson of any party cannot take a decision on seat-sharing in any state, this is an important issue and such issues are discussed in the presence of all… pic.twitter.com/UpGVn7ktqM

— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2023

On Wednesday, Lamba prompted outrage in the AAP ranks when she said that they have been asked to prepare to contest in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, with AAP leaders insisting that there was “no point in having the I.N.D.I.A alliance” in such a case. “We have been told how to prepare for the 2024 election. Before the Delhi meeting, the leadership has met our people in 18 states. It has been decided all Congress leaders will immediately go to work on the seven seats in Delhi to win them,” Lamba said. “Seven months are left. All party workers have been asked to prepare for all seven seats,” she added. However, the Congress later distanced itself from Lamba’s remarks and said that she is not authorised to speak on such important issues. “Alka Lamba is a spokesperson but she is not an authorised spokesperson for talking on such important issues. I have said as an in-charge that there were no such discussions in the meeting today. I refute Alka Lamba’s statement,” said AICC in-charge Delhi Congress Deepak Babaria on Wednesday. Congress leaders from Delhi had held a meeting with the party’s top leadership on Wednesday to review its preparedness for the Lok Sabha elections. The politicians had discussed ways and means to strengthen the organisation. And according to Lamba, members of the Delhi Congress had been urged to make poll preparations for all seven seats. Babaria also cautioned the AAP against being “provoked” into making “unfortunate statements” as the party threatened to walk out of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. With inputs from agencies