The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday decided to go solo in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections in spite of pitch for unity by a large section of non-BJP parties.

The AAP, which won a remarkable 67 seats out of 70 in the 2015 assembly elections, however fared poorly in the Lok Sabha elections this year in which the party failed to win any seat in the state.

Emboldened by BJP’s below par performance in the just concluded assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, a number of non-BJP parties wanted to join hands with AAP to defeat the BJP and consequently build a momentum against it in national politics.

“The AAP will contest the assembly election alone as it is well set to humble the BJP in the election,” said AAP Rajya Sabha MP and member of Political Affairs Committee Sushil Gupta.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday decided to go solo in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections in spite of pitch for unity by a large section of non-BJP parties.

The AAP, which won a remarkable 67 seats out of 70 in the 2015 assembly elections, however fared poorly in the Lok Sabha elections this year in which the party failed to win any seat in the state.

The development is a setback to stop-start moves for an opposition unity against the BJP and Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

Emboldened by BJP’s below par performance in the just concluded assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, a number of non-BJP parties wanted to join hands with AAP to defeat the BJP and consequently build a momentum against it in national politics.

“The AAP will contest the assembly election alone as it is well set to humble the BJP in the election,” said AAP Rajya Sabha MP and member of Political Affairs Committee Sushil Gupta.

“The AAP is on a strong wicket in Delhi and it will defeat the BJP alone in the assembly election,” Gupta said in the context of his party getting decimated at the hands of the BJP in the last parliamentary election.

The BJP did an encore of 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning all the seven seats in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.The AAP had ignored persuasions of opposition unity in Delhi in the last parliamentary election, including with the Congress.

Mediatory efforts by Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party and Farooq Abdullah of NC for an understanding between AAP and Congress did not bear result as the two parties failed to reach an agreement on sharing of seats.

“The AAP is on a strong wicket in Delhi and it will defeat the BJP alone in the assembly election,” Gupta said in the context of his party getting decimated at the hands of the BJP in the last parliamentary election.

The BJP did an encore of 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning all the seven seats in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.The AAP had ignored persuasions of opposition unity in Delhi in the last parliamentary election, including with the Congress.

Mediatory efforts by Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party and Farooq Abdullah of NC for an understanding between AAP and Congress did not bear result as the two parties failed to reach an agreement on sharing of seats.

AAP’s pre-condition was that the Congress must also ally with it in Haryana and Punjab which the latter did not agree to.Without elaborating, Gupta said: “The party is above charges of corruption and caste and religion based politics.”