The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have reached an ‘in-principal understanding’ to fight next month’s Haryana Assembly election together against the wishes of its State unit, though nothing has been finalised yet.
Sources said two rounds of talks between AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Congress’s KC Venugopal have already been held.
The third round of meeting can be held on Wednesday. Sources said the AAP is reported to have demanded 10 seats, while the Congress is willing to give between five and seven only. The Congress is reportedly also willing to give one seat to the Samajwadi Party. The deadline for nominations is October 4 with voting on October 5.
Against the wishes of its State unit, the Congress on Tuesday said it is in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for an alliance in Haryana though nothing has been finalised yet. According to sources, in its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Monday evening, party leader Rahul Gandhi expressed interest in exploring the possibility of alliance with AAP for Assembly elections in Haryana.
Ironically, the State Congress leaders in Haryana have rejected the possibility of any alliance with AAP in the State. Recently, senior Congress leader in Haryana, Kumari Selja ruled out the possibility of an alliance with AAP for the Assembly polls, saying her party is strong in the State and will fight the elections on its own.
Asked about the possibility of an alliance with AAP, AICC general secretary in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria said, “We are in talks with the AAP, but nothing has been finalised yet. As soon as something concrete emerges, we will inform you.” Responding to another question, Babaria said, “We have to defeat the BJP, and therefore are against allowing anti-BJP votes to be divided.”
Meanwhile, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has welcomed reports claiming Rahul has shown interest in an alliance with Arvind Kejriwal-led party in poll-bound Haryana.
Polling for 90 Assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.
The Congress’s Central Election Committee had met on Monday and cleared the names of 34 candidates for the Assembly polls in Haryana. “Today, a meeting was held for Haryana by the CEC. A list of 49 names was presented by the State’s screening committee, out of which 34 have been approved and decision on 15 is pending,” Babaria had said last evening.
AAP also told the media that defeating the BJP was a priority of all the Opposition parties and added any decision regarding alliance would be taken with the approval of the Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.
Singh, however, said any official stand on the issue will be taken by AAP’s in-charge of Haryana affairs Sandeep Pathak and State President Sushil Gupta.
“Any final decision in this regard will be taken by our leaders associated with organisational and election-related works in Haryana after approval of Kejriwal,” said the senior AAP leader.
Delhi Minister Atishi said the decision will be taken only after Kejriwal is released.
“Rahul Gandhi has sought opinion of Congress leaders and only they can give answer. We have got to know about it from media. As far as alliance goes, the decision will be taken after Arvind Kejriwal comes out of jail,” she told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Earlier, the Congress and AAP, partners in Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA Bloc), had entered into a seat-sharing alliance for Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
In Haryana, AAP State President Gupta was the lone party candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in the State. He lost to BJP’s Naveen Jindal.
Interestingly, the Congress and AAP contested the Lok Sabha polls independently in Punjab.
Gupta recently asserted that AAP was ready to strongly contest all the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana on its own with an alliance with the people of the state.
