The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday said that it is no longer a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, PTI reported.

The remark by party leader Sanjay Singh came ahead of an online meeting of INDIA bloc’s leaders on Saturday. In the meeting, the Opposition parties are expected to discuss “the prevailing political situation” ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which will begin on Monday.

The AAP has cleared its stand, said Rajya Sabha MP Singh.

“The INDIA bloc was for the [2024] Lok Sabha polls,” PTI quoted Singh as saying. “We fought the Delhi and Haryana Assembly polls on our own. We are going to fight the Bihar election solo. We fought the bye-polls in Punjab and Gujarat all by ourselves.”

“The AAP is not part of the INDIA [bloc],” Singh was quoted as saying. “We will strongly raise issues in the Lok Sabha. We have always played the role of a strong Opposition.”

The party also questioned the Congress’ role in leading the Opposition alliance.

“It is not child’s play,” Singh said. “Did they hold any meeting after the Lok Sabha polls? Was there any initiative to expand the INDIA bloc? Sometimes they criticise [Samajwadi Party leader] Akhilesh Yadav, sometimes [Shiv Sena’s] Uddhav Thackeray and sometimes [Trinamool Congress chief] Mamata Banerjee.”

The AAP leader said that the INDIA bloc “should have been united”.

“The Congress is the biggest party of the bloc,” he said. “But did it play a role [in ensuring Opposition unity]?”

While the AAP and Congress had contested the 2024 general election in an alliance in Delhi, the INDIA bloc did not win any of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. In Punjab, the Opposition alliance had won 10 of the 13 seats despite the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress contesting separately.

In Haryana, the Congress had contested nine out of the ten Lok Sabha seats, and won five of them. The Aam Aadmi Party had contested the remaining one seat as part of the INDIA bloc but lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The two parties did not ally for the Haryana Assembly election in October and the Delhi polls in February.

On July 3, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said that his party had ended its association with the Congress. Speaking in Ahmedabad, Kejriwal said that the AAP will contest the 2027 Gujarat Assembly polls alone.

“We will provide the people with a real alternative to both the BJP and the Congress,” he said.

Punjab, where the AAP is in power and the Congress is the main Opposition party, is also expected to head for Assembly polls in 2027.

Also read: How the Congress cost AAP a majority in Delhi