A claim by a Congress spokesperson that “they have been ordered to proceed on the seven (Lok Sabha) seats of Delhi” triggered a furore from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party that threatened to boycott the INDIA bloc meeting in Mumbai later this month.

Delhi Congress leaders led by the party’s in-charge for the capital, Deepak Babaria, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and MP Rahul Gandhi at the party’s headquarters on Wednesday. After the meeting, Babaria denied any discussions on seat sharing but slammed the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal for maladministration.

But what got the AAP’s goat was Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba’s video bite to PTI in which she said: “After the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the faith people have is that the Congress can strongly counter this dictatorial government that is killing democracy and not doing anything on inflation. We have been ordered to proceed on Delhi’s seven seats with a strong organisation.” Lamba was previously an AAP MLA.

AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar reacted to Lamba: "If the Congress has made up its mind to fight elections alone in Delhi, there is no point of the INDIA alliance. The final decision to attend the next meeting of the INDIA alliance will be taken by the party's top leadership.”

Babaria soon called another media conference and said: “Alka Lamba is a spokesperson but she is not authorised to talk about such issues. I have said as an in-charge that there were no such discussions in the meeting today. I refute Alka Lamba's statement.”

Kakkar then told The Telegraph: “One has to rise above selfish interests and the Congress has distanced itself from its spokesperson’s remarks…. Our top leadership takes decisions regarding the Lok Sabha polls.”