India's anti-graft party rules out joining anti-BJP alliance for 2019 polls

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-10 16:54:14|Editor: mmm
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NEW DELHI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- India's anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which rules the national capital, has ruled out joining any opposition alliance against the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the general elections due next year.

This was announced by AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the northern Indian state of Haryana's Rohtak town Thursday evening.

"The AAP will not be a part of any alliance in 2019. The parties who are joining the proposed alliance have no role in the country's development," Kejriwal said, in a U-turn to his party's anti-BJP stance since coming to power in Delhi.

The announcement also comes as a sort of blow to the country's opposition parties struggling to cobble together a Third Front against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for next year's general elections.

Led by Kejriwal, a former civil servant-turned-politician, AAP won 67 of 70 Delhi assembly seats in 2015, decimating the BJP as well as the country's main opposition Congress party. He promised to bring in good governance, end corruption and make Delhi safe for women.

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