No alliance in Punjab with Cong for LS polls, AAP to fight all 13 seats: Anmol Gagan Mann

Even as the INDIA bloc had pledged to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together 'as far as possible' in its Mumbai meeting, the AAP in Punjab rejected the possibility of joining forces with its rival Congress in the state in the national elections. The party is all set to fight the 13 parliamentary seats in the state on its own.

This was announced by AAP leader and Punjab tourism minister Anmol Gagan Mann, on Wednesday (September 6). Replying to a question on an alliance with the Congress in Punjab for the Lok Sabha polls, she made it clear that her party will not tie-up with the Congress in Punjab for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are both part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of Opposition parties to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the general elections.

No alliance with Congress in Punjab

At the national level, many political parties have joined hands against the BJP to save democracy, Gagan Mann said but in Punjab there will no alliance with the Congress. It is the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that the AAP will not have any alliance with the Congress in the state, she told reporters, a day after the Punjab Congress opposed any alliance with the AAP.

Gagan Mann's remarks are the first by an AAP leader in Punjab that makes it clear the party does not want any electoral tie up with the Congress for the 2024 elections.

Coordination committee on seat sharing

On September 1, the INDIA bloc in its Mumbai meeting resolved to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together 'as far as possible', asserting seat-sharing arrangements in states will be concluded at the earliest in a 'collaborative spirit of give-and-take'.

The coalition's leaders have also set up a 14-member coordination committee that will act as the highest decision-making body of the alliance and initiate work on seat sharing. They also exuded confidence that the new front would easily defeat the BJP.

No compromise in Punjab

"We will not have any alliance with the Congress. The people of Punjab love Bhagwant Mann. Any kind of alliance with the Congress will not be tolerated. Several leaders (of the Congress) are facing (corruption) cases," said Gagan Mann. 

Further she said, "In Punjab, we have the responsibility of the state… in Punjab, there will not be any kind of compromise. We will fight elections independently," she said and asserted, "I am making it clear that we will not enter into any kind of seat sharing with the Congress." The AAP had won 92 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab last year and people will again bless the party in the next elections, Gagan Mann pointed out.

"We are with the people of Punjab. We will fight all (Lok Sabha) seats on our own. We are an honest party. People like the work of Chief Minister Mann. We do not need to enter into an alliance with anyone," she said. Asked whether the AAP's Punjab unit has conveyed its views to the party leadership, the tourism minister said that "many parties, including the Congress, are part of the (INDIA) alliance. But in Punjab, politics is different. Here, we (AAP) can win 13 seats". 

(With input from agencies)