Why Bhupinder Hooda is unhappy over Cong-AAP alliance talks in Haryana
As the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) negotiate a deal for an alliance in Haryana, the delay in announcement of candidates looms large over the party's campaign.
The filing of nomination papers started on Thursday and September 12 is the last date for it. The BJP announced a list of 67 candidates on Wednesday.
As part of the INDIA bloc, the AAP is seeking 10 seats from the Congress, which is not agreeing to it.
It is learnt that former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda is not in favour of the alliance with the AAP. He has reportedly expressed his views to senior party leadership.
The AAP and the Congress had an alliance in the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana wherein the Congress offered it the Kurukshetra seat. However, AAP’s Sushil Gupta lost to BJP’s Naveen Jindal by 29,021 votes. Overall, the AAP scored 3.94 per cent of votes.
After the Lok Sabha polls, Hooda had clarified umpteen times that the Congress was capable of contesting elections alone. When it sought applications from ticket-seekers, over 2,500 people applied for 90 Assembly segments.
"When we have enough ticket-seekers for all 90 segments, why should we go with the AAP? How will it benefit the Congress? The AAP doesn't have any base in Haryana and neither any community vote bank. It is only the AAP that is going to benefit from the alliance. And the Congress has to take the risk of losing all those seats allotted to the AAP," said a senior Congress MLA.
The fears of the Congress leaders are based on the AAP’s previous performance in Haryana. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP had polled 0.36 per cent of the votes, just ahead of NOTA. In the Vidhan Sabha polls later that year, the AAP contested 46 seats and forfeited deposits on all Assembly segments with a vote percentage of 0.48. It was less than NOTA, which polled 0.52 per cent votes.
The Congress has another headache: Too many ticket-seekers. Sharing seats with the AAP could result in rebels fighting elections from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP) alliances.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Capt Ajay Yadav (retd) said, “The AAP has no base in Haryana. Why should we give a footprint to them? But if there is some urgency, then it is up to the high command to decide whether they want to have an understanding with them in other states too.”
Interestingly, Punjab CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday said, “I urge the party high command to stay away from the AAP in Haryana.”
