‘No AAP pact but things can change’

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 21 

The last word on the much-talked-about Congress and AAP’s Delhi alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections may not have been said yet.

Delhi Congress president and former state Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said one must wait and watch for things to unfold. In an interview to The Tribune, Dikshit said there was no Congress and Aam Aadmi Party alliance as of now, but in politics “things can change”.

“I did not say wait for the alliance between the two parties or don’t wait. I have said the alliance is not there today. But in politics things can change… otherwise you would come back to me and tell me you said this and you have done something else. Please remember in politics like in your life you change things. Today’s reality is this (there is no pact). Things can change.”

The Congress is still treading cautiously to see if its anti-BJP LS alliance hope at state level can become a reality.

Asked why such alliances are not materialising for the Congress, like in Delhi, Dikshit said: “Why don’t you wait for a while? The elections are not on just now. Let it be worked out because any kind of understanding takes time and both have to accept that understanding before it is implemented.”

To a query about whether one should wait for things to unfold in Delhi also, the veteran Congress leader said: “Yes of course, obviously because no decision has been taken either way just now…. Let the picture emerge because you know in politics I cannot say this is the truth forever and ever.”

Dikshit indicated that the Congress remained flexible on alliances and would take its decisions depending on the circumstances. She was dismissive of AAP leader Gopal Rai’s recent remarks that AAP would fight LS elections alone in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.

“AAP has said they will fight alone. I have said we will fight alone. I am just saying let us wait and watch. If it (the current scenario of no pact) has to be changed it will be changed. If it is not to be changed it stands,” Dikshit said.