Breaking: AAP decides to help Congress by withdrawing from electoral battle in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan

New Delhi: In a significant move aimed at strengthening the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is likely to put up only a token fight in the electoral battles in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to ensure that the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vote is not divided. 

The AAP is learnt to have conveyed to the Congress that its target is to ensure BJP defeat at all costs.

Assembly elections in these three states along with Telangana and Mizoram are going to be held in coming November-December, and these are billed as semi-finals before the grand finale (Lok Sabha polls) in April-May next year. 

AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has taken the decision to send a message that the INDIA grouping is united and going strong despite serious differences in some states. 

For him, the BJP is the enemy number one party and with the central government going after his close party colleagues the swords are already out.

During his recent campaign tours to poll-bound states, Kejriwal has consistently attacked the BJP and refrained from directly taking on the Congress, especially in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. 

The AAP had been working in these three states for a long time and managed to establish its organisational structure and cadre network there. 

The party had last month announced its first lists of ten candidates each for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It made a strong entry in Madhya Pradesh in July 2022 when its candidate Rani Agrawal won the mayoral polls from Singrauli. In Rajasthan, the AAP had announced six guarantees if it came to power in the upcoming elections. 

The AAP's move is expected to help in the consolidation of the anti-BJP vote in favour of the Congress. 

It will also help in strengthening the ties with the Congress and silence the anti-alliance lobby within the grand old party in Punjab and Delhi. 

Congress leaders like Ajay Maken in Delhi and Partap Singh Bajwa in Punjab are vehemently opposed to any tie-up with the AAP. They argue that Arvind Kejriwal's party is trying to usurp the Congress' space in every state.

However, the Congress high command appears to have sidestepped their opposition as it is keen to strike an alliance with the AAP both in Punjab and Delhi to oust the BJP from power at the Centre. It remains to be seen how long will this bonhomie continue but for now the AAP's latest gesture is certainly going to go down well with the Congress leadership.