Congress chief Rahul Gandhi turns down alliance with AAP in Delhi, says report; Sheila Dikshit to make announcement today

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi turned down an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in New Delhi, NDTV reported. Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit was informed of Rahul’s decision in the wee hours of Saturday by party leaders PC Chacko and KC Venugopal, as per the report. [caption id=“attachment_6328231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] The formal announcement will be made by Dikshit later Sunday. The decision comes after weeks of uncertainty in New Delhi about an alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. In a letter written last week to Rahul , Dikshit and working presidents Haroon Yusuf, Devender Yadav and Rajesh Lilothia protested a recent phone survey to gauge workers’ mood on the alliance and warned against it. “Dikshit and the working presidents have urged the Congress chief not to have an alliance with the AAP, saying it will harm the party in the long run,” said a Delhi Congress leader. The leader said they have also expressed reservation over the phone survey, being carried out through Shakti app of the party, which was undertaken by PC Chacko, the AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress. The survey sought views of around 52,000 Delhi Congress workers on whether they supported the party’s alliance with the AAP in Delhi or not. Chacko had said earlier that a report of the survey would be submitted to Rahul, who would take a final call on the issue. Dikshit had opposed the survey, saying it was “overriding” Rahul’s decision that the Delhi Congress was against the alliance. Earlier in March, Dikshit, after meeting Rahul, had claimed that there was unanimity in the party against an alliance with the AAP.