Haryana | AAP finalises seat-sharing with Congress, to contest 5 seats: Report

The Congress and AAP have finalised a seat-sharing arrangement for the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls with the latter agreeing to contest on five seats, party sources told news agency PTI on Sunday.

Sources in the AAP said the alliance might be forged on Monday. “Talks between Congress leader Deepak Babaria and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha have been progressing in a positive direction. There are chances that the alliance might be finalised by tomorrow. AAP has agreed on contesting five seats in the state,” an AAP source told PTI.

Hope to form alliance

Earlier in the day, Chadha said both Congress and his party are trying to forge an alliance for the Haryana elections by keeping aside their individual aspirations. He said while the parties are yet to reach a consensus on the alliance, the talks are progressing in a “positive” direction and they are hopeful of a good outcome. He, however, added that the AAP will not proceed with the alliance “if there is no win-win situation”.

“The talks are happening in a positive atmosphere. Both parties are working towards contesting the elections together, prioritising unity and the demands of the people of Haryana, while setting aside individual party and candidate aspirations,” he told PTI. “Ball by ball commentary cannot be done on the seat-sharing arrangement. Both the parties have desire and hope to form an alliance,” he added.

AAP demanding 10 seats

According to sources, while the AAP is demanding 10 seats, the Congress is ready to give them only seven. However, Chadha refused to divulge any details about the seat-sharing arrangements discussed so far.

“We will take a decision well before (September) 12, the last day of nomination. If there is no win-win situation, we will leave it. The talks are going on, good discussions are happening, I hope a good conclusion will come out of it,” he added.

Earlier, the Congress and AAP, partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), entered a seat-sharing agreement for Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.

‘Ready to contest solo’

In Haryana, AAP state president Sushil Gupta was the lone party candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He lost to BJP's Naveen Jindal.

Gupta recently asserted that the AAP is ready to strongly contest on all the 90 assembly seats in Haryana on its own “with an alliance with the people of the state”.

Polling in Haryana to the 90-member Assembly will take place on October 5. The last date to file nominations is September 12.

(With agency inputs)