Will win majority on own, won’t need AAP: Sheila Dikshit

New Delhi : Hours after not ruling out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the possibility of a hung assembly in the state, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Thursday backtracked, saying the Congress will win a majority on its own.

“Won’t comment on alliance with AAP. I didn’t rule it out, I didn’t rule it in,” Dikshit told CNN-IBN in an interview.

Dikshit, however, later issued a statement which said: “The Congress would form government on its own without any alliance in Delhi.”

The chief minister has always refused to acknowledge the year-old AAP’s potential of harming the Congress’ prospects of winning the Delhi polls for the fourth straight time.

Several opinion polls have suggested the AAP would emerge as a major political force and eat into the votes of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress.

A survey predicted a win for AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal against Dikshit in the New Delhi constituency.

Taking a jibe at the AAP, Dikshit said: “There are those who took up ‘jhadoo’ (broom) to clean up corruption but the sting operation has shown that even they are corrupt.”

However, in the interview, the three-time chief minister said she was confident of Congress winning its fourth term in Delhi.

“The citizens know that the Dec 4 elections are for Delhi and are not general elections. We are suffering from pro-incumbency and not anti-incumbency.”