‘No alliance in country…’: AAP minister Gopal Rai on INDIA bloc's Delhi Assembly poll prospects

Delhi Assembly Elections: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai on Thursday said that the party would not fight ‘along with’ the INDIA bloc partners for the Assembly polls. The crucial Vidhan Sabha polls for all 70 constituencies in the national capital are scheduled to be held in February 2025.

"There is no alliance in the country. We will fight the Vidhan Sabha elections together with the people of Delhi...", Gopal Rai told reporters on Thursday.

"It is clear from the beginning that the INDIA alliance was formed for the Lok Sabha Elections. We fought Lok Sabha elections together but in Delhi Vidhan Sabha Elections, there is no alliance in the country", Rai said.

The AAP and other parties had formed an alliance to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Not just AAP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee helmed Trinamool Congress (TMC) had also refused to form an alliance at the state level. TMC maintained the INDIA bloc alliance would only be maintained for Lok Sabha Elections. 

Further the Communist Party of India (CPI(M)) also refused to maintain an alliance for state assembly polls. Even though they agreed to seat sharing arrangements in West Bengal and Kerala for the Lok Sabha Assembly elections, CPI(M) would fight against the INDIA bloc partners in state Assembly Elections. 

INDIA bloc fare better in assembly segments held by Kejriwal, AAP ministers

INDIA bloc candidates might have lost the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, but they have got more votes than their BJP rivals in the assembly segments held by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP ministers Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain.

However, the nominees of the opposition alliance failed to fare better in those assembly segments held by other Delhi ministers including Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj.