Congress high command to decide on alliance with AAP for 2019 polls, says ex-Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit

New Delhi: Amid speculation of a possible alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the 2019 elections, former chief minister Sheila Dikshit said Wednesday her party high command shall decide whether or not such an arrangement would take place with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. Dikshit, the senior Congress leader who was the chief minister of Delhi for 15 years (1998-2013) and a one-time bitter critic of Kejriwal, said she will not question any decision her party takes on an alliance with the AAP. [caption id=“attachment_2985190” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. PTI[/caption] Both the parties are understood to be in touch to explore possibility of an alliance for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. “I have nothing to do with it. It’s the high command which has to take a decision. Whatever its decision, I am not going to question it,” Dikshit told PTI on being asked about possibility of an alliance with the AAP. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has repeatedly rejected possibility of any alliance with the AAP in Delhi. In June, 2018, addressing a joint press conference along with Dikshit at Delhi Congress office, Maken had categorically rejected chances of his party joining hands with the AAP in Delhi. AAP sources had said back-channel talks are currently on between the two parties. However, there is no official word on it from the two sides. In case the two parties come together to contest the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, the BJP will be faced with an uphill task to retain its tally of seven seats it won in 2014. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the elections scoring 7-0 while AAP and Congress drew blank. The AAP came second while the Congress stood third. However, in six seats, the combine votes of the AAP and the Congress were much more than that obtained by the BJP.