What could be the first indication of the failure of a poll alliance or pressure tactics on the Congress for an alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday decided to go solo in the Haryana Assembly polls as it released its first list of 20 candidates. This comes amid days of hectic parleys between the two parties over seat-sharing arrangements that dragged on looking at the nomination window for the polls closing on September 12. This decision could complicate the potential alliance between the AAP and the Congress in Haryana and might impact the possibility of the two major INDIA bloc allies coming together for the Delhi Assembly polls next year.
Interestingly, the AAP has fielded candidates from at least 12 seats including Naraingarh, Assandh, Samalkha, Uchana Kalan, Dabwali, Meham, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Badli, Beri, Mahendragarh and Badshahpur where the Congress has already announced its candidates. Interestingly, AAP has fielded its party’s vice president of Haryana unit, Anurag Dhanda from Kalayat, which is considered to be a stronghold of former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Besides, this AAP has fielded Kuldeep Gadrana from Dabwali, a bastion of the Chautala clan, Indu Sharma from Bhiwani, Vikash Nehra has been fielded from Meham, while Bijender Hooda is in the poll fray from Rohtak, which is considered as Hooda’s stronghold.
The Congress has so far announced 41 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls to elect 90 MLAs, scheduled for October 5. The votes will be counted on October 8. The talks between the Congress and the AAP have been stuck over the number of seats to be contested by the latter, with Arvind Kejriwal-led party demanding 10 seats and the Congress offering five.
The Haryana unit Congress leadership opposed alliance talks as they were not ready to accommodate AAP on these seats. Some of the seats AAP was demanding already had strong Congress candidates, State Leaders told the Central leadership. Hooda was against any seat-sharing pact with AAP. Hooda even reportedly walked out of one of the party meetings held on the matter in Delhi. In fact, State unit Haryana Congress Leaders were worried that an alliance might give a platform to AAP and help find its footing in the region.
According to AAP insiders, the alliance seemed nearly sealed on Saturday and the delay from Congress in final confirmation led to an impasse, irking the AAP which had threatened to release the names of all 90 candidates if no final word is received from the grand old party till Monday evening.
Other party contestants include Kuldeep Chikara from Bahadurgarh, Randir Guliya from Badli, Sonu Ahlawat Sheria from Beri, Ravinder Faujdar from Ballabhgarh, Dharmender Khatana from Sohna, Bir Singh Sarpanch from Badshahpur, Gurpal Singh from Naraingarh; Narender Sharma from Pundri, Jaipal Sharma from Gharaunda, Amandeep Jundla from Assandh, Bittu Pahalwan from Samalkha, Pawan Fauji from Uchana Kalan, Kuldeep Gadrana from Dabwali, Happy Raina from Rania, Ranbir Guliya from Badli, Sonu Ahlawat from Beri and Manish Yadav from Mahendragarh.
On the issue of an alliance with the Congress, AAP’s Haryana president Sushil Gupta said, “I want to say it very clearly that we have been preparing for all the 90 seats since day one. There is not much time left for the polls, the last date for filing nominations is September 12. So the wait is over.” He asserted that the AAP is in a position to provide a strong alternative in Haryana, adding that the party’s second list of candidates will also be released soon. Another AAP leader, Sanjay Singh, said the party will fight the Haryana polls with full strength.
Earlier in the day, Gupta had said the AAP would release the names of its candidates from all 90 seats if the Congress failed to seal the deal by the evening.
Gupta said the countdown for the exit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun in Haryana and added that “the AAP will not allow the BJP to benefit at any cost”. He was replying to reporter’s question on whether the AAP’s decision to go solo will benefit the saffron party in Haryana. On the alliance prospects with the Congress, Singh said, “We do not have sufficient time. We are now engaged in finalising the candidates’ names for the remaining seats.” On Sunday, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, who was holding talks with Congress leaders over a prospective alliance, said both parties were trying to form a coalition for the Haryana polls, keeping aside their individual aspirations.
The Congress and the AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi while they had contested the election separately in Punjab. In the general election, the Congress had given one seat to the AAP in Haryana, which it had contested unsuccessfully. In the 2019 Haryana polls, the AAP had contested 46 seats, but failed to taste success.
