After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decided on Monday to go solo in the Haryana Assembly polls, BJP leader and former minister Anil Vij mocked the AAP-Congress alliance stating that AAP has shown 'thenga' to Congress by releasing their candidate list. "AAP-Congress wanted to contest the elections together in an alliance. AAP has shown 'thenga' to Congress and released their list, " BJP leader Anil Vij said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The decision was made amid prolonged alliance discussions between the AAP and Congress, with the nomination deadline for the elections closing on September 12. Haryana Assembly is set to hold elections on October 5.
AAP has nominated candidates for seats in Naraingarh, Assandh, Samalkha, Uchana Kalan, Dabwali, Meham, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Badli, Beri, Mahendragarh, and Badshahpur, while Congress has already announced its candidates for these constituencies.
AAP Is Ready To Offer Strong Alternative In Haryana: Sushil Gupta
Regarding the potential alliance with Congress, AAP's Haryana president, Sushil Gupta, stated, "We have been preparing for all 90 seats from the beginning. With little time remaining before the polls and the nomination deadline approaching, the wait is over." He emphasised that AAP is ready to offer a strong alternative in Haryana and mentioned that a second list of candidates would be released soon.
Another AAP leader, Sanjay Singh, affirmed that the party would contest the Haryana elections with full force. Earlier, Gupta had stated that AAP would announce its candidates for all 90 seats if the Congress did not finalise the alliance by the evening.
Negotiations between the two parties stalled over seat distribution, with AAP reportedly demanding 10 seats, while Congress was willing to offer only five.
According to the candidate list of AAP, its Haryana unit's senior vice-president Anurag Dhanda will run from Kalayat, a stronghold of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while Indu Sharma will contest from Bhiwani. Vikas Nehra has been fielded from Meham, and Bijender Hooda will contest from Rohtak.