Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, leader Rahul Gandhi, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a meeting.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Congress has opened negotiations with AAP and other parties for an alliance in the Haryana Assembly elections after a passionate plea from top leader Rahul Gandhi who appeared keen to take forward the I.N.D.I.A experiment to states by conceding some space to potential allies.
Under an arrangement that is in the works, Congress is learnt to be ready to part with five seats to AAP and may give one each to Samajwadi Party and the CPI(M) in Haryana where there are 90 seats for offering. An official announcement may take a couple of days.
Sources said Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha have already held two rounds of discussions and a third round will be held soon. There is an “in-principle” agreement on the alliance, they said.
AAP is demanding ten seats, sources claimed. Its demand is based on the argument that it fought one Lok Sabha seat in Haryana in alliance with Congress, which consists of nine Assembly seats. While Congress sources claimed it is ready to give only five seats, AAP sources said the senior partner has indicated to them that they can give a maximum of seven.
The possibility of Congress holding hands with AAP in Haryana may throw open a new political challenge in Delhi where the party unit has gone hammer and tongs against the Arvind Kejriwal-led party after fighting Lok Sabha elections together, keeping in mind Assembly elections.
Firm indications about the alliance, which was not initially favoured by the Congress state unit, came as Rahul once again asked Haryana leaders about a possible coalition at a meeting of Congress Central Election Committee on Monday evening and party’s Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria publicly admitting on Tuesday that there are talks going on with the AAP.
On Monday, Rahul threw the question to state leaders on Monday once again saying that Congress should give I.N.D.I.A partners space and asked about their opinion. Sources said there was “mixed response” from the state leaders while former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda indicated that Congress could part with 3-4 seats to AAP at the maximum.
When he was told that the Congress did not benefit from AAP in Haryana, sources said Rahul told them the coalition had not harmed them also. The consensus among the central leadership is that they should go ahead with alliance in Haryana to take forward the I.N.D.I.A experience, sources said.
It was not the first time Rahul had posed this question. On August 19 too, Rahul had raised the issue during a joint meeting of Screening Committees and poll-bound state leaders that they should ensure that the momentum I.N.D.I.A bloc gathered after the Lok Sabha polls should be maintained.
Rahul’s insistence on keeping the I.N.D.I.A alliance intact comes at a time he has taken lead in Lok Sabha as the Leader of Opposition to counter the ruling BJP-led NDA. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also shares Rahul’s view that a larger coalition is needed to take on the BJP and I.N.D.I.A bloc should not be seen as fragmented at any level.
“We won't let votes be divided in the battle against BJP. We are holding talks with I.N.D.I.A parties,” Babaria told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the possible alliance in Haryana. In Jammu and Kashmir too, Rahul and Kharge had taken proactive measures to ensure that Congress entered into an alliance with the National Conference and other parties.