AAP to declare Haryana poll candidates soon; people to decide CM face

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) will soon declare its candidates for the October 1 Haryana Assembly polls, the party’s state unit chief Sushil Gupta said on Sunday (August 18).

Screening and survey for the purpose is underway, Gupta said. He added that the AAP will put up a strong fight in all 90 Assembly segments and asserted that the countdown to the end of the BJP government in the state has begun.

“We will build a new Haryana without goonda raj, unemployment, and criminal incidents,” Gupta said at a press conference in Chandigarh.

“Candidates will be declared soon. We will try to declare the candidates by August 31. The AAP will give tickets to those whom people want,” he said.

People to choose CM face

Asked about the AAP’s chief ministerial candidate, Gupta said people will decide that. The party leadership and the political affairs committee will seek feedback from the people at an appropriate time, he said.

To a question about any possibility of a tie-up with the Jananayak Janata Party (JJP), Gupta said the AAP cannot have any truck with them.

Slamming the Dushyant Chautala-led party, the AAP’s Haryana unit chief alleged that the JJP was in alliance with the BJP when the state government had rained lathis on farmers.

Gupta said the people of Haryana have decided to back the AAP, as they see it as a viable alternative. “Our tie-up is with the people of Haryana. The BJP cannot seek votes from people based on their work. Every section — farmers, employees, and doctors — is unhappy. They [BJP] failed to give employment to the youth,” he said.

BJP’s double win

Alleging a breakdown of the law-and-order situation and a rise in drug menace in the state, Gupta said, “Such is the situation that the BJP had to change their chief minister.”

The BJP had made a bold move by replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with its then state unit president Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Khattar got elected to the Lok Sabha from Karnal and was made a Union minister while Saini won the Karnal Assembly bypoll that was held along with the general elections. Saini is the BJP’s chief ministerial face for the Assembly polls.

Had they done any work they would not have to change their CM, the AAP leader said.

The Haryana Assembly election will be held in a single phase on October 1, and the results will be declared on October 4.

(With agency inputs)