Patiala/Jalandhar: Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that AAP would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state in an alliance with Congress, leaving the state leaders of the grand old party baffled as they have been speaking vehemently against any such arrangement.
Replying to a query from media persons on whether AAP and Congress in Punjab would contest the Lok Sabha elections together, Cheema said: “Of course. INDIA alliance has been formed to save the country’s democracy and the Constitution. The aim behind the alliance is very big, for which small differences must be kept aside.”
Sources within Congress revealed that Cheema’s statement had put party leaders in a difficult situation as they had been hurling chosen epithets at Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP, even calling the governing party a ‘B’ team of RSS-BJP. They had even been saying that Congress would contest all the 13 seats in the state and there was no question of seat-sharing with AAP. “They are now in utter dilemma on this issue and are discussing how to handle this U-turn,” said a Congress MLA.
It is for the first time that a senior AAP leader has made such a statement. Cheema said the Centre was hatching conspiracies and trying its best to put down the INDIA bloc. “BJP is afraid of this alliance. There are some political parties in the INDIA alliance that have some differences in their states. BJP is attempting to multiply these differences so that INDIA bloc is not a success,” he said.