The Congress and the BJP both face hiccups in finalising candidates for next month’s Haryana election, sources told NDTV Friday, days after the former began seat-sharing talks with the AAP, seeking a revival of the INDIA alliance that won five of 10 Lok Sabha seats in April-June.
As far as the Congress is concerned, as it was with seat-share talks with other opposition parties before the Lok Sabha election, there is disagreement between state and central leaders. Congress leaders in Haryana are unwilling to concede too many of Haryana’s 90 seats.
Differences have also emerged, sources said, over which seats the AAP can get; some of those identified by Arvind Kejriwal’s party are those to which the Congress’ influential former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda expects to nominate his loyalists.
The Congress and the AAP announced an ‘in-principle’ deal on Wednesday.
This was after Rahul Gandhi urged his party to form an alliance with the AAP to guard against the division of votes. Mr Gandhi has been clear that it will take a concerted effort by the opposition to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, whether in central or state elections.
In early exchanges the AAP wanted 10 seats but the Congress would offer five to seven only, with another likely to go to Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, another INDIA member.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Haryana the Congress contested nine seats (and won five) and left the tenth to the AAP, but Mr Kejriwal’s party failed to wrest Kurukshetra from the BJP.
Sources said the Congress has pointed to this, and that wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia will contest on its tickets, to claim it has the best chance of defeating the BJP.
BJP’s Haryana Election Issues
The BJP, meanwhile, faces internal squabbles after naming a first list of 67 candidates, with Jails Minister Ranjit Chautala and MLA Lakshman Napa quitting after being denied tickets.
Mr Chautala has said he will contest as an independent candidate, while Mr Napa met Congress leader Hooda at his residence and said he would join that party.
READ | Denied Haryana Poll Tickets, BJP Minister And MLA Quit Party
Ranjit Chautala is the son of Devi Lal Chaudhary, one of the state’s tallest and most respected political leaders, who was also twice Chief Minister and served as Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Chautala was hoping to contest from Rania – the seat he won in 2019 as an independent but quit to join the BJP and contest the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, which he lost.
The BJP fielded Shishpal Kamboj instead.
Meanwhile, Karan Dev Kamboj has resigned as chief of the BJP’s OBC Morcha state unit after also being denied a ticket. “Perhaps the BJP does not need loyalists anymore,” he said, taking a swipe at the party for giving tickets to former rival leaders who have recently joined the party.
READ | On BJP’s Haryana 1st List – Jail Officer Who Gave Ram Rahim 6 Paroles
A significant name in the BJP’s first list is former prison official Sunil Sangwan – had who granted Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Ram Rahim parole a staggering six times.
When Is Haryana Election?
The Haryana Assembly election will be held on October 5.
The election was first scheduled for October 1 but it was deferred by the Election Commission to honour the voting rights and traditions of the Bishnoi community, for whom a festival – the centuries-old Asoj Amavasya festival in remembrance of Guru Jambeshwar – is on October 2.
READ | Haryana Poll Dates Revised To October 5, Counting 3 Days Later
The Bishnois represent a sizeable voting community in at least three districts of the state.
Therefore, results for the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections – the first in the former state since 2014 – will now be announced on October 8 instead of October 4, the poll body said.
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