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Haryana elections: AAP releases first list amid talks with Congress
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday released a list of 20 candidates for the upcoming Haryana assembly polls, indicating that its negotiations with the Congress for an alliance in the northern state had not succeeded.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday released a list of 20 candidates for the upcoming Haryana assembly polls, indicating that its negotiations with the Congress for an alliance in the northern state had not succeeded.
The list came days after the Congress announced 41 candidates for the October 5 elections. There are three days left for the nominations for the single-phase elections to close.
“We have to uproot the corrupt and arrogant government of Haryana and change the system… AAP has already released a list of 20 candidates and soon the next list will be released,” AAP Haryana chief Sushil Gupta said.
Gupta refused to confirm directly if the possibility of an alliance with the Congress was over. “AAP consistently made efforts and now very little time is left for the elections, so we released our list. Only three days for nomination are left, we have to line up the candidates. We have multiple candidates for each seat,” he said.
The Congress remained non-committal. “We will see. Our list has also been released. The talks are going on…political parties take steps in their own interests,” said party MP Deependra Hooda.
Talks between the two parties – who are partners in the broader Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, and fought the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana together – began last Tuesday amid speculation that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked the state unit to formalise an alliance.
But no major breakthrough could be achieved despite several rounds of discussions, even as senior Haryana Congress leaders indicated that they were against such a tie-up. To be sure, the AAP has never won any Lok Sabha or assembly seat in Haryana.
“Today, the list of 20 candidates has been released, more lists will be out soon,” AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said.
The AAP Haryana list – which included Gurpal Singh from Naraingarh and Anurag Dhandha from Kalayat – contained 11seats on which the Congress has already named its nominees.
The Congress is looking to dethrone the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Haryana continuously since 2014. The Opposition is buoyed by its better-than-expected performance in the Lok Sabha polls, when the Congress and the BJP both won five seats.
Discussions between the Congress and the AAP for the Haryana polls have been going on for over one week and until Sunday evening, both sides said talks were progressing in a “positive” direction and that they were hopeful of a good outcome.
According to AAP functionaries, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has sought to contest on 10 out of 90 assembly seats in Haryana, but the Congress is keen on offering only seven.
AICC in-charge of Haryana, Deepak Babaria, was not available for a comment.
The last date of nomination for assembly polls is September 12. Polling in Haryana will take place on October 5 and the votes will be counted on October 8.
A section of Haryana Congress leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the AAP for the elections. Last month, Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda dismissed claims of forming an alliance and said the party is capable of contesting the elections on its own.
“We have an alliance with the Samajwadi Party too, but it is a central-level alliance, not state-based. We have no alliance here in Haryana. We have an alliance with all parties at the national level, but there are no such discussions at the state level. Congress is fully capable of contesting the elections alone,” he said.
The AAP said there was no point in discussing an alliance. “The second list will also be released soon. We will contest the election with full force. We have held 45 rallies in (the last) 15 days, Sunita Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, Manish Sisodia….everyone is working hard,” Singh said.
Gupta said that the party continued to be a part of the INDIA bloc. “We still are a partner of the INDIA bloc at the national level,” he said.
On Sunday, AAP MLA Somnath Bharti cautioned the party leadership against an alliance with the Congress.
The BJP mocked both parties. “The AAP and Congress wanted to contest the election together (in an alliance), but today we have learned that AAP has turned the Congress down (thenga dikha diya Congress ko) and released its list,” said former state minister Anil Vij.
