Any alliance with AAP a bid to avoid division of votes in BJP favour: Congress

NEW DELHI: : Congress and AAP are negotiating a pact for Haryana polls, with the two parties confirming talks have already taken place and, if an agreement is hammered out, a deal may be clinched in a couple of days. It reverses the earlier stance of the INDIA allies that their Lok Sabha partnership would not extend to assembly polls in Haryana or Delhi.

AAP sources said Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and AAP MP Raghav Chadha have discussed the nitty-gritties over two rounds, adding that AAP has sought 10 seats while Congress is willing to cede seven. According to sources, the two parties are confident of a pact, and the discussion is around the specific constituencies that AAP is seeking, which is different from the list of seats that Congress is offering. The tie-up hinges on a reconciliation on these seats.

While Haryana Congress has been opposed to any alliance, sources said Rahul Gandhi nudged the party in the direction of cobbling an INDIA bloc.

The third round of talks between Congress and AAP for a possible seat-sharing arrangement in the upcoming Haryana assembly elections is likely to take place on Wednesday.

It is learned that Rahul asked participants in the Congress central election committee (CEC) meeting on Monday about an alliance with AAP, but there was barely a discussion on the issue.

Congress general secretary Deepak Babaria made the surprise revelation on Tuesday afternoon when he told reporters that alliance talks were on. However, after the meeting of the CEC late evening, he said that “the talks are in a primitive mode” and their fate would be known in two-three days.

Babaria said the alliance was to avoid any division of votes in favour of BJP which is battling serious anti-incumbency. Even Samajwadi Party (SP) of Akhilesh Yadav is being spoken of as an ally.

Congress, AAP in alliance talks for Haryana polls.

The announcement came even as the CEC held back-to-back meetings for selection of candidates.

The party’s top panel cleared 32 candidates out of the 41 that were discussed on Tuesday, after having finalised 34 seats and sent 15 for review out of the 49 brought before it on Monday.

A sub-committee will take a look at the pending seats. It is now believed that the pending seats could be among those being discussed between AAP and Congress.

Speaking to reporters after the poll committee meeting, Babaria said there was still no decision on the candidature of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, and a final picture would emerge in two days.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh welcomed the alliance negotiations and said, “Defeating BJP and its politics of hatred and politics against people, farmers and youth is a priority for all of us.”

Meanwhile, Haryana Congress functionaries Randeep Surjewala, Kumari Selja and Bhupinder Hooda will meet soon to discuss various poll-related issues.

Courtesy : TOI

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