'AAP will not enter alliance with Congress in Punjab for LS polls'

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his party will not enter into an alliance with the Congress in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, reiterating that the AAP will win all 13 seats.

Mann's statement comes on a day West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that her party will not ally with the Congress for the parliamentary polls in that state.

The AAP is part of the 28-party INDIA bloc along with the Congress, TMC and the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The Punjab chief minister made the statement at a time the AAP and the Congress are locked in talks over seat sharing in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat for the general elections.

However, the AAP has entered into an alliance with the Congress for the Chandigarh mayoral poll.

Replying to a question on his party's alliance with the Congress, Mann said he has said many times that ''Punjab will become a hero in the country and the AAP will win 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls''.

When questioned if it was clear that the AAP will not have an electoral alliance with the Congress, Mann said, ''We are not going with them (Congress).'' He further said discussions have already taken place on the AAP's probable candidates for Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats and the names of 40 probables have come up.

''There are three to four probable candidates per Lok Sabha constituency. Surveys will be conducted and we have kept winnabilty as the criterion (for fielding a candidate),'' he said while speaking to reporters after chairing a Cabinet meeting.

Mann and several AAP leaders have been opposing any truck with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls.