Kirti Azad, disgruntled BJP leader, joins Congress in presence of Rahul Gandhi

Disgruntled BJP leader Kirti Azad has on Monday decided Congress party in presence of Rahul Gandhi. On Friday, Azad took to twitter and wrote, “Met @RahulGandhi ji. It was rightly decided that in mark of respect to the martyred soldiers of Pulwama my joining the @INCIndia will now take place on 18th February. We will be in state of mourning for 3 days. Country is bigger than a person or party and soldiers are supreme, Amen (sic)."

Azad, who was in the 1983 World Cup-winning team, has been representing Darbhanga for the third time and is said to be keen on seeking re-election from the same seat. But, a source said, Congress may field him from South Delhi Lok Sabha seat, which has a sizeable Purvanchali population.

Arvind Kejriwal, on the other hand, had said that the party had lost all hope of a pre-poll alliance with Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, a Congress source said its top brass had not decided yet.

The Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after he had participated in a meeting with opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi facilitates Kirti Azad in New Delhi

Responding to a question on an alliance with the Congress, he said it has "more or less ruled out the alliance (with AAP)".  Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

 Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The meeting, hosted by NCP president Sharad Pawar at his residence here, also saw Congress chief Gandhi and Kejriwal coming together for the first time.