Haryana heads for 4-way fight as AAP decides to go solo, contest all 90 assembly seats

As Congress refuses to ally with it, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that it will contest all 90 seats in upcoming assembly polls in Haryana. The AAP and Congress - both part of the INDIA bloc - had contested the Lok Sabha elections together. The AAP contested from Kurukshetra but lost to the BJP. 

The AAP will announce party chief Arvind Kejriwal's guarantees on July 20. In a press conference, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said the AAP will fight the Haryana Assembly polls strongly. "The AAP will contest all 90 seats," said the Rajya Sabha MP, who was flanked by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. 

The AAP's entry will make it a four-cornered contest in Haryana, with Congress, BJP, and SP-INLD other three forces in the fray. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) recently forged an alliance for the upcoming assembly polls.   

Though the AAP has contested multiple elections in Haryana, it has yet to taste electoral success. The AAP had contested the recent Lok Sabha elections in alliance with Congress. While the Congress won five of the nine Lok Sabha seats it contested, the AAP unsuccessfully contested the Kurukshetra seat. 

Haryana Congress leaders, including Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Udai Bhan, have hinted that the party might go solo in the assembly polls, with both saying that it is capable of contesting all 90 seats on its own. Recently, when Deepender Hooda was asked whether there was any possibility of an alliance with AAP, the Congress MP said the AAP does not have any base in Haryana and that the Congress will contest all 90 seats.    

Sanjay Singh targeted the BJP government in Haryana over the issues of unemployment, law and order, and the Agnipath scheme. "Today, there is an industry of extortion in Haryana. We saw how farmers were crushed during their agitation. Unemployment is also a big problem in Haryana," he said. 

Terming the Agnipath scheme an "insult to the Army", he said, "Will the Army run on contract?" The scheme should be rolled back and the AAP will raise this issue ahead of the polls, he added. 

Sandeep Pathak, the AAP's national general secretary (organisation), asserted that the AAP would come to power in Haryana. "We will contest all seats and form the government," he said, adding that the AAP held "Badlav Jansamvad" meetings in 6,500 villages, and in these meetings, people talked of only one thing -- change. 

"On July 20, we will hold a town hall meeting in which Kejriwal's guarantees will be announced," Pathak said. Asked if the AAP will fight the Haryana polls in alliance with its INDIA bloc partners, he said, "We will contest all 90 seats." 

Punjab Chief Minister Mann said during AAP leaders' visits to different parts of Haryana like Rohtak, Sonipat, and Jind, people said they wanted "badlav" in the state. He said the AAP will contest the assembly polls strongly and "Badlenge Haryana Ka Haal, Ab Layenge Kejriwal" will be its slogan. 

"We have governments in Delhi and Punjab. One-half of Haryana touches Delhi and the other half touches Punjab while half of Haryana also speaks Punjabi. Ten years ago, no one had imagined that the AAP would register a landslide win in Punjab and form the government on its own, but that became a reality. Now, the party will fight the Haryana polls with the same spirit and energy," he said. 

Mann, whose wife Gurpreet Kaur hails from Haryana's Kurukshetra district, said people of Punjab and Haryana have relatives in both states while some districts of the two states share boundaries. Arvind Kejriwal belongs to Haryana and he changed the country's politics, he said.

The Haryana Assembly elections are due later this year. 

(With inputs from PTI)