Haryana Assembly Elections 2024: Congress infighting threatens tie-up with AAP for Haryana polls

The much-speculated potential alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections may not happen.

As per news reports, AAP is already gearing up to release its first list of candidates on Sunday (Sept 8), and the party is preparing to contest independently in at least 50 assembly seats in Haryana, sources told India Today. Despite a prior alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections as part of the INDIA bloc, the two parties seem to be parting ways for the state elections.

According to reports, party leader Arvind Kejriwal had initially pushed for 10 assembly seats in the alliance talks, but Congress was only willing to offer seven. This disagreement has been a major sticking point in the negotiations.

Reports earlier suggested that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had shown interest in exploring an alliance with AAP during a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) on Monday. However, the seat-sharing discussions have sparked internal conflict within the Congress, particularly in the Haryana state unit.

Earlier there were reports that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda faction, led by the former Haryana Chief Minister and current leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), had voiced strong opposition to any alliance with AAP. Sources had told The Indian Express that the disagreement became so heated that Hooda walked out of one of the party’s internal meetings.

On Wednesday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria confirmed that discussions with AAP were ongoing. Later that day, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha was seen meeting with Babaria at his residence in Delhi. Babaria had commented, “We are in talks with AAP, exploring possibilities… We’re looking for a win-win scenario for both parties and for the country. We expect a conclusion in the next day or two.”

Despite AAP’s efforts to establish itself in Haryana, the party’s electoral performance in the state has been lackluster. It has yet to secure a seat in either the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections since its debut in 2014. AAP’s most notable performance came during the last general election, where it contested from the Kurukshetra constituency in alliance with Congress. Although the party ultimately lost the seat to the ruling BJP, it gave the incumbent a close fight.