AAP-Congress alliance unlikely in Haryana, Arvind Kejriwal’s party may contest on 50 Assembly seats

While Kejriwal's party had sought ten seats, the Congress had offered only seven, according to sources within the AAP.

AAP-Congress alliance in Haryana assembly polls

Earlier, reports indicated that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) on Monday, had expressed an interest in exploring the possibility of an alliance with AAP. (PTI/ Express file photo)

Discussions regarding a potential alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections are likely to fall through, AAP sources told The Indian Express on Friday.

AAP, which is expected to release its first list of candidates on Sunday (Sept 8), is looking to contest solo on 50 assembly seats in the state, sources said.

Both the parties had previously allied for the Lok Sabha elections as part of the INDIA bloc.

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While Arvind Kejriwal’s party had sought 10 seats, the Congress had offered only seven, according to sources within the AAP.

Political Pulse | Rahul Gandhi pitch for Haryana tie-up with AAP divides Congress, runs into Hooda hurdle

However, the push for a seat-sharing pact seems to have divided the party with its state unit, especially the Bhupinder Singh Hooda faction, strongly opposing the proposal. The “intense disagreement” within the Congress on the issue, party sources said, even resulted in Hooda, the Haryana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and ex-chief minister, walking out of one of the party’s meetings.

On Wednesday, All India Congress Committee in-charge for Haryana Deepak Babaria had said talks were on. Later in the day, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha met Babaria at his Delhi home.

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“We are talking to them (the AAP) and exploring (possibilities)… we are looking for a win-win situation…for both parties as well as the nation. Let us see, this should get finalised in the coming day or two,” Babaria had said.

Although the AAP has made multiple attempts to make inroads in Haryana, its performance has remained dismal with the party failing to open its account in any of the Assembly elections or the Lok Sabha polls since its poll debut in the state in 2014.

The AAP’s best performance in Haryana came in the recent general elections when it contested from the Kurukshetra constituency in alliance with the Congress, even though it lost the seat to the ruling BJP in a close fight.

The AAP first made its electoral foray in the state barely one-and-a-half years after its inception in November 2012. Significantly, the AAP’s supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hails from Siwani village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district.

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