Chandigarh: A day after several leaders of Punjab Congress vehemently opposed any alliance with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state, the cabinet minister Anmol Gagan Maan on Wednesday said that the AAP would have no truck with the Congress in Punjab in the upcoming Lok Sabha poll.
Addressing newspersons here, the tourism minister Maan said that the AAP would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state under the leadership of the chief minister Bhagwant Mann sans any seat-sharing arrangements.
She pointedly added that the AAP did not need any alliance with Congress as it (AAP) was an honest party because of which the people of the state had given it a thumping majority of 92 seats out of total 117 seats in the state assembly.
'Dictatorial government'
She went on to add that the alliance at the national level was between different parties to oust the BJP’s "dictatorial government" but the political situation in Punjab was different.
Pertinently, Maan’s statement comes a day after the top leaders of the state Congress had strongly expressed the sentiment of the party workers which was against any alliance with the ruling AAP in Punjab.
The state Congress leaders had held a meeting here on Tuesday where there seemed to be a consensus to oppose any tie-up with the AAP. The Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also told the newspersons that the party would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state as per the directions of the central leadership and that they were working accordingly.
Navjot Sidhu's different perspective
Meanwhile, senior party leader Navjot Sidhu has taken a different stand stating that selfish vested interests should be discarded and the decision of the party high command should be held supreme.
Notably the different stances of the leaders of the two rival parties – Congress is the principal opposition party in AAP-ruled Punjab - on the issue of alliance are being seen to be a major setback to the `resolve’ of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls together next year.
