Haryana polls: AAP releases first list of 20 seats amid alliance talks with Cong

Chandigarh: Amid talks over pre-poll alliance with the Congress, AAP on Monday released its first list of 20 seats for the Haryana Assembly elections slated for October 5.

The AAP’s first list of 20 names includes 11 seats where the Congress has already declared its candidates. The seats are Uchana Kalan, Meham, Badshahpur, Naraingarh, Samalkha, Dabwali, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Badli, Beri and Mahendragarh.

During the pre-poll alliance discussions, the AAP was demanding at least 10 seats from the Congress, while the Congress didn’t want to give more than three seats.

With the release of its first list, the possibility of an alliance now turns dimmer.

The party has fielded Bijender Hooda from Rohtak, Anurag Dhandha from Kalayat and Vikas Nehra from Meham among its prominent candidates.

Earlier in the day, AAP’s state unit chief, Sushil Gupta, said they have received no information regarding the alliance with the Congress and said they would release a list of all 90 candidates if there is no update by the end of Monday.

Also, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said the party is fully prepared in Haryana. He said the process of picking candidates for the upcoming polls has been completed, and the list will be released as soon as they get permission from the party leadership.

Before the release of the list, Ranjit Uppal, the AAP district president from Panchkula, resigned from the party and joined the BJP.

Uppal said he joined the BJP as he was upset that the party failed to announce candidates for any of the Assembly seats and was instead seeking the sharing of seats with the Congress.

Party insiders said Uppal was keen to contest from the Kalka seat, which falls in Panchkula, but the BJP has already announced its candidate. Uppal met Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini here and joined the party. He was accompanied by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Kartikeya Sharma, whose mother Shakti Rani Sharma is the BJP’s candidate from Kalka.

“Earlier, the AAP had claimed it would field its candidates and contest all 90 seats in the 2024 Assembly polls. Now they are seeking seat-sharing with the Congress, which has already announced over 41 candidates,” he told the media.

“In fact, both the parties (the Congress and the BJP) have announced their candidates and started their campaigns, while AAP is on standby. Moreover, the party which has been condemning the Congress rule in the past, is now teaming up with the Congress,” he said.

IANS