With elections in Haryana just a month away, political preparations are intensifying, and a key question has emerged: Have the Congress and the AAP decided to continue the formed alliance during the Lok Sabha elections? Haryana’s former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also remarked recently that there had been no mention of an alliance for the state polls and this is more of a fight between the BJP and Congress. In the last held Lok Sabha elections Congress gained five seats in Haryana as compared to the previous times, although AAP did not win a single seat.
Some media have reported that Rahul Gandhi is consulting Congress leaders on whether should form an alliance with AAP. Other reports suggest that despite the willingness of Hooda to give 3-4 AAP seats, the state Congress Leadership did not approve the same in the first place. But the high command of the party has tasked them to recast the approach keeping into account the effects of the same on both, the Haryana and the upcoming Delhi assembly polls. To the Congress leadership, the existence of a robust electoral matrix is necessary to avoid vote fragmentation that would help the INDIA bloc stand firm against the BJP.
AAP has also given a guarded welcome to the proposal, AAP senior leader Sanjay Singh said that the party was willing to consider the proposal but it requires approval from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Nevertheless, any association discussions are predicted to be high stakes, as any strategic partner wouldn’t want to be short-changed. As we saw in the Lok Sabha elections, AAP did not get much benefit, therefore tough negotiations should be expected from both sides.
