Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel says AAP should be part of grand alliance against BJP

Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday said that if a grand alliance against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is formed in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls, then the Aam Aadmi Party should be a part of it.

When asked by reporters about AAP joining hands with Congress in Delhi, Goel said, “It will be in the interest of Delhi and the country if the Mahagathbandhan comes about and the party (AAP) participates in it.”

Goel was speaking on the sidelines of an event to pay homage to Vithal Bhai Patel and Bhagat Singh on their birth anniversary at the Delhi Assembly. The Delhi Congress was quick to pick Goel’s comment and said the Congress has no intention to form an alliance with the AAP.

“The AAP, which won 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 Delhi assembly elections, is now struggling to keep its flock together as the popularity of the party has been eroding. AAP’s vote share in the municipal corporations of Delhi elections in 2017 came down to 26%. But the vote percentage of the Congress is on a steady rise,” said Sharmistha Mukherjee, chief spokesperson of Delhi unit of the Congress.

Speaking to HT later, Goel clarified that he never said AAP should opt for an alliance with the Congress in the general elections. “I never talked about any alliance with the Congress. But yes, in the national context if there is a grand alliance against the BJP, then it would be beneficial for the AAP to be a part of it,” he said.

Last month, AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said in a rally in Haryana’s Rohtak that his party will not be part of any Opposition alliance for the 2019 elections.

Goel, however, said his comment was made in his ’personal and independent capacity’ as a Speaker of the Delhi Assembly.

No leader from the AAP was available for a comment.

Goel also expressed his concern over mob lynching and said people need to be wary of forces trying to break the country.