After a controversial statement by a Congress leader Alka Lamba stating that the party had asked its leaders to prepare for a contest in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi next year sparked a massive row, Deepak Babaria, the Congress's in-charge of Delhi, stepped in today to clarify the statement.
Congress leader Alka Lamba's comments came after a three-hour meeting amongst Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party MP Rahul Gandhi and their senior colleagues in Delhi.
According to the Congress leaders who participated in the meeting, they primarily discussed poll strategies for the upcoming battle of parliament elections in 2023.
What did Congress leader Alka Lamba say?
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What stirred the controversy was Congress leader Alka Lamba's statement where she stated that, in the meeting, the Congress' top brass had directed the other party leaders to prepare to contest in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital.
"We have been told how to prepare for the 2024 election. Before the Delhi meeting, the leadership has met our people in 18 states. It has been decided all Congress leaders will immediately go to work on the seven seats in Delhi to win them," Ms Lamba told news agency ANI.
"Seven months are left. All party workers have been asked to prepare for all seven seats," she added.
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When asked about the possibility of an alliance with Congress, she said, "No decision has been taken on whether to have an alliance, but we have been asked to prepare ourselves on all seven seats."
Lamba later also added, "Congress votes have gone to the AAP" and many senior AAP leaders are in jail for corruption.
Congress clarifies 'All 7 Delhi Seats' Remark
In a bid to eliminate the confusion that statrted developing after Lamba's remarks, Deepak Babaria, the Congress's in-charge of Delhi, stepped in today and said that the comment was the leader's (Ms Lamba's) personal opinion.
He also mentioned that no plan on seat-sharing was discussed in the meeting.
"We did not discuss that issue in today's meeting. The discussion was about how to strengthen the party in Delhi," Mr Babaria said.
How did AAP react?
Reacting to Lamba's debatable remarks, AAP leader Vinay Mishra questioned the justification of the Opposition alliance 'INDIA'.
"Arvind Kejriwal ji should decide on what to do next, which is important in the interest of the country. A decision should be taken,"he later added, as per a report by NDTV.
In the matter of building an alliance with Congress and sharing seats with them during the upcoming mega battle of parliament elections in 2024, Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary and party leader Ajay Maken, who attended the meeting, highlighted possible issues linked to an alliance with the AAP, as per news agency PTI.
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AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said nothing is known at the moment about any seat-sharing arrangement for the national election next year.
"When all the parties of the INDIA bloc sit and discuss seat-sharing, the national leadership of all the parties will come to an agreement. Till then nothing is concrete. All this is very far ahead," Mr Bhardwaj said.
