AAP eyes three Haryana seats; Congress unit 'rebuffs' demand
Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, including two reserved for Scheduled Castes, as part of the INDIA bloc seat-sharing talks, spurring a fresh pushback from Congress' state unit.
It put forth the demand for contesting Ambala, Kurukshetra and Sirsa seats, of which Ambala and Sirsa are reserved for Scheduled Castes, according to people aware of the development. The party said it would like to contest the three seats since they border Punjab, where it is in power, having won a landslide victory in the 2022 assembly elections.
At present, BJP holds all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
What has further weakened Congress' claim is the fact that even in 2014 it had won just a single seat of Rohtak, while BJP won seven seats and INLD two.
The demand from AAP has spurred a massive pushback from the Congress state unit. Former CM and Jat strongman Bhupinder Singh Hooda has started campaigning across assembly segments in the state.
Congress' Haryana unit president Uday Bhan, a Hooda loyalist, is also actively wooing AAP leaders to switch camps. The latest have been AAP national co-convenor Nirmal Singh and his daughter Chitra Sarwara, who is the AAP's Haryana state vice-president. Hooda is trying to win over more over the next one month, said people in the know.
A senior Haryana Congress leader, who did not wish to be identified, told ET, «It is a clear indication that Congress remains the principal opposition party in Haryana. It is also a signal to the party high command that it should not give unnecessary importance to fledgling parties.»
The Congress stares at a difficult balancing act in Haryana. The Lok Sabha polls come right before the state assembly election.
