Haryana Assembly Elections: Congress In Talks With AAP For Alliance; Party Leaders Skeptical On Seat Sharing

After sealing a seat-sharing alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress is not ready to take a chance in Haryana as well. The party, which had earlier said that it would contest all the 90 seats, has now entered into talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a seat-sharing alliance for Haryana. It's notable that AAP had also announced to contest all the 90 seats but it has now taken a U-turn and is ready for an alliance for 'defeating BJP'.

Congress On Alliance With AAP

Speaking after the meeting of the Congress election committee meeting, AICC in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria said that the talks with AAP are in the very primary stage. "The talks with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regarding alliance is in a very primitive mode. We are exploring it. If there is any further development in the next 2-3 days, we will let you know."

AAP has welcomed the alliance talks saying that its primary goal is to defeat the BJP.  On the other hand, Congress leaders are skeptical about giving more seats to the AAP as they believe that the fight in Haryana is between the BJP and the Congress only. The Congress leaders are only willing to give a handful of the seats to the AAP.

Congress Finalises Names For 66 Seats

AICC in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria said that the party has so far finalized 66 seats. "Earlier, (discussions on) 34 seats were finalised. Today 32 of the 41 seats have been finalised...No specific discussions on specific seats were held," said Babaria. 

Congress has formed a Sub Committee for the remaining pending seats in Haryana. Madhusudan Mistry, Ajay Maken and Deepak Babaria are members of the committee. A meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday, 5th September and three senior leaders of the state will be called separately for discussions. The committee will meet Bhupinder Hooda, Randeep Surjewala and Kumari Selja. As per reports, more than 24 seats have been listed as pending, consensus is yet to be made on those seats by the party's CEC.

Vinesh Phoga, Bajrang Punia To Get Congress Ticket?

The Congress said that so far, the party has not finalized ticket allocation to Phogat and Punia. "Vinesh Phogat's or Bajrang Punia's names are not among them. I think, there will be clarity over this by the day after tomorrow," said AICC in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria.