On Alliance With AAP In Delhi And Haryana, Congress Leader Jairam Ramesh Talks Straight

Asked whether the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will fight the assembly polls together going forward, Jairam Ramesh said the alliance will do so in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

NEW DELHI: There does not appear to be much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the assembly polls in Haryana and Delhi but the INDIA bloc will fight elections together in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday. In an interview with PTI, Ramesh said there is no one formula the INDIA bloc will follow for state elections. The grouping will fight together in states where Congress leaders and other alliance partners agree to such an understanding, he said.

Asked whether the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will fight the assembly polls together going forward, Ramesh said the alliance will do so in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. "There is no INDIA 'janbandhan' in Punjab. In Haryana, we had given one seat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha polls but I don't think that INDIA janbandhan will be there for assembly polls. In Delhi, the AAP itself has said that INDIA janbandhan will not be there for assembly polls," Ramesh said.

The Congress and AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi, while they contested separately in Punjab. Ramesh said, "In the context of West Bengal also, I had said that the INDIA bloc is for Lok Sabha polls but in states where the circumstances are such that our leaders of the state and leaders of our alliance partners want, the alliance will remain. In Maharashtra, the alliance will be there with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP). In Jharkhand, we have an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morch." Where state Congress leaders and the respective alliance parties agree, there will be an alliance, he said, adding there is no one formula on which the alliance will be done for assembly polls.

Asked specifically as to whether there would be an alliance in Haryana and Delhi, Ramesh said, "There does not appear to be much scope (for alliance) in Delhi and Haryana." Last month, Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi state convener Gopal Rai had said his party's alliance with the Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections and hinted that the ruling party in the city will go solo in next year's Assembly polls here.

Ramesh asserted INDIA bloc partners are united in Parliament and augmented by the BJD in Rajya Sabha. "The YSRCP has its compulsions. Their soul is with INDIA but their body is with Mr. Narendra Modi. We are going to be aggressive, we are going to be proactive, we want a debate, we want a discussion but we will not be allowed to be bulldozed like the way we have been over the last 10 years," Ramesh said.

Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra are slated to go for polls later this year, while assembly elections in Delhi will be held early next year.