Delhi polls: Why Samajwadi Party and TMC picked AAP over Congress as ‘best bet’

LUCKNOW/KOLKATA: INDIA bloc heavyweights Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress picked their sides in the battle for Delhi on Wednesday, pitching Arvind Kejriwal's AAP as the "best bet" against BJP to set the cat among the pigeons within days of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi criticising the outgoing Atishi govt over "rising pollution, corruption and inflation".

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said INDIA bloc was born out of a shared mission to keep BJP at bay in every region by backing the strongest player against it.

In Delhi, AAP's two consecutive terms in office makes it what he termed "an obvious choice" over Congress despite both being part of the national anti-BJP alliance, the former UP CM told reporters during a family visit to Uttarakhand's Haridwar.

On Congress cutting a lonely figure within INDIA bloc, Akhilesh said common allies backing AAP in the assembly election didn't mean the demise of the national alliance.

"INDIA bloc is intact. I remember that when the alliance was taking shape, Nitish Kumar (then estranged from BJP) discussed with all parties, including SP, that everyone (in the opposition) should strengthen the hands of the strongest regional party.

AAP is strong in Delhi, so we are supporting it," Akhilesh said. His unequivocal expression of support for AAP in the Delhi polls coincided with Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's TMC, too, throwing its weight behind Kejriwal's party.

"If defeating BJP is our collective aim, why weaken the party that is primed to take them on in a particular place?" TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said in South 24 Parganas' Falta, echoing SP's stand.

"When INDIA bloc was formed, everyone backed the decision to support the regional parties wherever they are strong — Trinamool Congress in Bengal, DMK in Tamil Nadu, JMM in Jharkhand, and so on. AAP got 67 out of the 70 seats in Delhi in the last polls. We should support them."

He said TMC would willingly back Congress in its strongholds, but Delhi wasn't one of these. "Who can defeat BJP in Delhi — AAP or Congress? AAP. If we don't support and strengthen it, BJP will benefit." In Uttar Pradesh, SP remains the only challenge to BJP with 107 MLAs in the 403-strong assembly. Congress has only two MLAs and BSP one. Congress's UP unit recently convened a week-long session to identify and draw up a shortlist of "loyal and dedicated workers" ahead of strategising for the 2026 panchayat polls, which the party aims to contest "with all our strength".

SP and Congress put up a united front during byelections to nine assembly seats in UP last Nov. Congress didn't field any candidate while SP referred to its nominees as "INDIA bloc candidates". In the Feb 5 Milkipur assembly bypoll, SP MP Awadhesh Prasad is counting on Congress to back its ally to the hilt. In Bengal, which is due for assembly elections next year, TMC plans to contest all 294 seats. "We contest elections to win. It is up to the people who they will vote for, but we will be there even in seats where we might not be on a firm footing."