The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday (Jul 18) announced its formal exit from the INDIA bloc, a coalition of nearly three dozen Opposition parties, citing the bloc’s failure “to stay united and take steps to further its agenda” after the 2024 general elections. The AAP’s withdrawal comes just a day before a scheduled INDIA bloc meeting and days ahead of the scheduled beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament. The party sought to blame the Indian National Congress (INC) for its unceremonious exit from the alliance that was formed in July 2023 to take on the BJP-led NDA.
Announcing the decision from his Delhi residence, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh squarely blamed the Congress party, accusing it of neglecting its responsibility as the bloc’s largest constituent. “The AAP is not a part of the INDIA alliance, though we will continue to strongly raise public issues in Parliament, oppose the government whenever we believe it is in the wrong,” he said. He added that AAP would now contest all future elections, including the upcoming Bihar assembly polls, on its own.
Though AAP and Congress had forged a tactical understanding in states like Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh during the Lok Sabha elections, relations between the two have remained frosty. In the recent 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, both parties contested the elections separately and took frequent potshots at each other during the campaign.