Why the Congress and AAP failed to forge an alliance in Haryana
The Aam Aadmi Party’s demand for 10 seats and opposition from sections of the Congress’ state leadership proved to be the stumbling blocks.
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The Aam Aadmi Party wanted to contest 10 of the 90 seats in Haryana, with at least three of them being non-negotiable. But the Congress was not ready to part with more than six seats of its choice. This is why talks between the two parties for an alliance in the upcoming Haryana elections hit a dead end on Monday, leaders from both parties told Scroll.
On September 3, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi urged the Haryana unit of his party to look into possibilities of an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the INDIA bloc, to prevent the division of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party votes. Since then, at least three rounds of parleys were held between the central leadership of the two parties. Despite several state leaders from both the parties opposing the proposal, news reports on Monday morning said that the alliance was set to be announced with the Aam Aadmi Party getting five or six seats.
The announcement, though, never came. Around 3 pm on Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party released its first list of 20 candidates, indicating that the alliance had not materialised. Twelve of them were fielded in constituencies for which the Congress had already announced candidates. By late evening, leaders of...
