The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have finalised a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, with the Arvind Kejriwal's party set to contest five seats, PTI reported on Sunday, citing sources.
The report said the alliance might be finalised by tomorrow, September 9, as AAP's Raghav Chadha and Deepak Babaria of Congress have been engaged in positive talks, and both the parties are hopeful for a successful outcome.
"Talks between Congress' Deepak Babaria and AAP leader Raghav Chadha have been progressing in a positive direction. There are chances that the alliance might be finalised by tomorrow. AAP has agreed on contesting five seats in the state," the news agency said citing an AAP source.
Earlier in the day, Chadha said both the parties are trying to forge an alliance by keeping aside their individual aspirations. He, however, added that the Aam Aadmi Party will not proceed with the alliance with the grand old party "if there is no win-win situation".
"The talks are happening in a positive atmosphere. Both parties are working towards contesting the elections together, prioritizing unity and the demands of the people of Haryana, while setting aside individual party and candidate aspirations," the AAP Rajya Sabha MP told PTI.
"Ball by ball commentary cannot be done on the seat-sharing arrangement. Both the parties have desire and hope to form an alliance," Chadha added.
Though, AAP's Chadha refused to divulge any details about the seat-sharing arrangements, but according to media reports, the Kejriwal's party is demanding 10 seats for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, and the Congress is not ready to give them more than seven seats.
Chadha said both the parties will take a decision well before the last day of nomination (September 12) and if there is no win-win situation, they will leave the talks.
It is important to note that both the parties, partners in the INDIA block, entered a seat-sharing agreement in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat during the Lok Sabha election 2024.
As per election commission notification, polling in Haryana to the 90 member Assembly will take place on October 5 and the last date to file nominations is September 12.
