After Congress-AAP decides to contest mayoral election in Chandigarh, Punjab Congress edgy over losing ‘identity’

Congress leaders in Punjab fear that joining forces with the AAP in Chandigarh may harm their party's identity and support base.

After INDIA bloc partners — Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — decided to jointly contest the mayoral elections in Union Territory of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, there is a strong fear among the Congress leaders and party cadre in Punjab that the ruling party could dent its identity and vote bank in the State established over the years.

Even as the decision on jointly contesting the Lok Sabha election in Punjab has not yet materialised, a sense among a section of Congress leaders and workers is that the Congress, which is the main Opposition party in the State, has been aggressively raising its voice against the ruling AAP government’s “poor governance” in its past two-year regime, and if the party joins hand with the ruling party, then it could dent its identity among people.

Also, a section of the party feels that the Congress would fail to take advantage of the anti-incumbency sentiments against the AAP government, and eventually the space of “main Opposition” could either be seized by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

A party leader, requesting anonymity, told The Hindu that if there is an electoral alliance for the general election between the Congress and AAP in Punjab, chances are that of the total 13 seats, both the parties could settle on contesting near equal seats. “We are already in a position of winning six to seven seats, then what would be the rationale to join hands with the AAP? Even if after jointly contesting we will be getting similar numbers of seats that we expect to win independently, then it’s better to go alone and save our party’s position and identity among the people.”

Several Congress leaders in Punjab have been critical of entering into an alliance with the AAP, and they have been consistently pointing out to the party high command to not go ahead with such a move in the State. Notably, the leaders of AAP’s State unit in Punjab have also opposed a poll alliance with the Congress.

“The AAP and the Congress are already a part of the INDIA alliance and our high command can have an understanding with them in Delhi, Chandigarh, Gujarat or elsewhere. Our concern is for Punjab… On contesting polls in alliance with the AAP, as many as 30 senior leaders of the Congress have twice shared their concerns and viewpoint with the high command,” said Partap Singh Bajwa, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Also, in the recently held meetings with the new State party in-charge, all the former PCC presidents, former Chief Ministers, sitting and former MPs, and MLAs, all district and block presidents have conveyed similar concerns and viewpoints, Mr. Bajwa added.