Alliance not beneficial, capable of going it alone, says Haryana Congress
Haryana Congress leaders today objected to the ongoing alliance talks with AAP and said any pact with a party that had no base won’t benefit them. They conveyed their displeasure over the matter to the party top brass.
Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “Though the Congress is capable of going it alone, the decision has to be taken at the top level.”
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, in a media interview, said, “We can fight on our own and be successful. But the leadership wants that as part of the INDIA bloc, all partners must be accommodated, whether needed or not.”
The Congress, which is seeking to return to power in Haryana after 10 years, faces several challenges. It needs to strike a balance between different factions within the party while allocating seats. Additionally, selecting 90 candidates from over 2,500 ticket-seekers is proving to be a tough task.
The party has played it safe so far, avoiding any major discontent. Its first list includes 28 MLAs, besides Olympian Vinesh Phogat and two turncoats. However, a seat-sharing pact with AAP, if materialises, could lead to a revolt among party leaders, some of whom might choose to contest as Independents. The ongoing talks with AAP are also delaying nominations for the remaining seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, AAP had got just 0.36 per cent of votes, narrowly surpassing NOTA. In the last state Assembly elections, AAP contested 46 seats, but failed to win any. Its vote percentage was 0.48 per cent, lower than NOTA’s 0.52 per cent.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, AAP had a tie-up with the Congress for the Kurukshetra seat. However, AAP’s Dr Sushil Gupta lost to BJP’s Naveen Jindal by 29,021 votes, polling just 3.94 per cent of the votes. Congress leaders argue they would have won the seat had they contested it.
Meanwhile at a rally in Meham (Rohtak) today, senior AAP leader Anurag Dhanda claimed some people were underestimating the party’s strength in Haryana. “They are making a mistake. Just one order, AAP workers are standing firm on all 90 seats,” he said. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal also addressed the rally, but only targeted the BJP.
