At a time when the Congress and AAP are trying to finalise a seat-sharing arrangement for the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls with the latter agreeing to contest on five seats, senior leader and former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti has spoken out against the ongoing talks with the Congress, saying the AAP supporters do not favour such a “misfit and selfish alliance” and added that the party should contest all 90 seats in Haryana alone.
In a post on X, Bharti said that before the AAP-Congress alliance is finalised in Haryana, the AAP must evaluate the effectiveness of a similar coalition formed in Delhi during the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
During the Lok Sabha polls, the two parties formed an alliance and fought the polls with a seat-sharing agreement of three seats for Congress (North East, North West and Chandini Chowk) and four seats for the AAP (East, South, West and New Delhi). The alliance, however, lost all seven Delhi seats to the BJP. He said that while the AAP national convenor and Congress leader Arvind Kejriwal did roadshows for all Congress candidates during the parliamentary polls, the Congress did not support the AAP candidates, including himself, despite requests. Bharti, a three-term MLA from Malviya Nagar, also served as a minister in the AAP government. He contested Lok Sabah polls from New Delhi against BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj. Bharti alleged that senior Congress leader Ajay Maken refused to meet. Local leaders like Jitender Kochchar in Malviya Nagar worked against the alliance and sought votes for the BJP’s MP candidate allegedly for money, he said. “No event of Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi or Kharge was organised in our parliamentary constituencies to consolidate Congress votes in our favour,” he said.
“And we must not forget that the imaginary sharab Ghotala which gave BJP a reason to arrest our leaders for months n years was hatched and severely pursued by Sri Maken. When it comes to defeat AAP, BJP and Congress both work together openly or discreetly,” Bharti added.
Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said no final decision has been taken on the alliance with the Congress for the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls yet while some leaders aware of the development said the alliance might be forged on Monday. "The talks are underway but there is no final decision yet," said an AAP source. Insiders said talks between Congress' Deepak Babaria and AAP leader Raghav Chadha have been progressing in a positive direction. “There are chances that the alliance might be finalised by tomorrow. AAP has agreed on contesting five seats in the state," they said. The last date to file nominations is September 12.
Earlier in the day, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said both Congress and his party are trying to forge an alliance for the Haryana elections by keeping aside their individual aspirations.
Chadha said while the parties are yet to reach a consensus on the alliance, the talks are progressing in a "positive" direction and they are hopeful of a good outcome. He, however, added that the AAP will not proceed with the alliance "if there is no win-win situation".
"The talks are happening in a positive atmosphere. Both parties are working towards contesting the elections together, prioritizing unity and the demands of the people of Haryana, while setting aside individual party and candidate aspirations," he said. "Ball by ball commentary cannot be done on the seat-sharing arrangement. Both the parties have desire and hope to form an alliance," he added. Polling in Haryana to the 90-member assembly will take place on October 5. The last date to file nominations is September 12. According to sources, while the AAP is demanding 10 seats, the Congress is ready to give them only seven.
However, Chadha refused to divulge any details about the seat-sharing arrangements discussed so far. "We will take a decision well before (September) 12, the last day of nomination. If there is no win-win situation, we will leave it. The talks are going on, good discussions are happening, I hope a good conclusion will come out of it," he added.
Earlier, the Congress and AAP, partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), entered a seat-sharing agreement for Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. In Haryana, AAP state president Sushil Gupta was the lone party candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He lost to BJP's Naveen Jindal.
Gupta recently asserted that the AAP is ready to strongly contest on all the 90 assembly seats in Haryana on its own "with an alliance with the people of the state". The Congress and AAP contested the Lok Sabha polls independently in Punjab.
