Haryana Elections 2024: Congress and AAP in talks for alliance; AAP eyes seats along Delhi, Punjab border

The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are in negotiations to form an alliance for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, slated for October 5.

While the Congress is keen on forging an alliance to take on the BJP, the seat-sharing negotiations are expected to be challenging. According to AAP sources, the Congress is offering five to seven seats out of the 90 in the state, whereas the AAP is demanding nine seats.

According to the Indian Express report, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is focusing on Haryana’s seats along the borders with Delhi and Punjab, where the party is currently in power.

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The Congress is experiencing internal dissent regarding a potential alliance with the AAP in Haryana. Despite support from the high command, including Rahul Gandhi, who is pushing for an exploration of this possibility, Congress leaders in Haryana, led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, believe in their own chances of victory and are hesitant to divide seats.

The AAP has indicated that the state leadership will make the final decision, which will subsequently be reviewed by national convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress contested nine out of ten parliamentary constituencies in Haryana, leaving Kurukshetra to the AAP. The Congress won 42 of the 90 Assembly segments, while the AAP won four. Together, the two parties secured 46 segments, narrowly surpassing the BJP, which won 44 segments despite lower forecasts.

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AICC in-charge for Haryana, Deepak Babaria, confirmed that talks between the Congress and AAP are ongoing but said, “Nothing has been decided yet.”

The Congress has formed a three-member committee, including K.C. Venugopal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Ajay Maken, to further explore the possibility of an alliance. The AAP reported that two rounds of discussions took place on Tuesday between AAP Punjab MP Raghav Chadha and Venugopal.

Regarding the rationale behind a potential alliance, Babaria explained, “Wherever the BJP needs to be defeated, we have to stop a division in votes. So we will definitely go for it.”

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AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also stressed “defeating the BJP our priority”. However, he noted that the decision on an alliance will be made by Haryana prabhari Sandeep Pathak and Sushil Gupta after consultations, with the final decision being communicated to Arvind Kejriwal.

Previously, there was speculation about an alliance between the AAP and the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). The two parties had partnered for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but the JJP has faced challenges since its alliance with the BJP in government ended earlier this year.