Aditya, son of party General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala
Credit: X/Rsurjewala
New Delhi: With just hours left for filing of nominations to close, Congress on Wednesday late night released a list of 40 more candidates of Haryana but kept a decision on nine seats on hold, triggering speculation about a last minute tie up with AAP.
The talks with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had not moved forward with AAP announcing around 70 candidates. While AAP had demanded ten seats, Congress negotiators said it cannot part with more than five seats.
The latest list included fielding Aditya, son of party General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala, from Kaithal.
With this, Congress has named 81 candidates for Haryana so far. The deadline for filing nominations is Thursday 3 PM. It has not named a single sitting MP to contest Assembly polls though Kumari Selja and others had expressed desire.
Congress had earlier announced candidates for 41 seats and had kept the names for remaining seats pending due to division among senior leaders over the choices. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, Haryana Congress president Uday Bhan and wrestler Vinesh Phogat are among the prominent candidates, whose names were named earlier.
Sources indicated that top leader Rahul Gandhi had discussions with senior leaders over alliance through video conference from the United States where he is on a visit. Rahul had earlier nudged leaders to explore alliance possibilities in Haryana.
Congress also released a fourth list of five candidates for Jammu and Kashmir. It has fielded Jammu and Kashmir Congress Working president Tara Chand from Chhamb.