Hooda says no seat-sharing talks yet with AAP in Haryana

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said there has been no seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party in Haryana and it will happen only after some criteria are set.

Asked whether the Congress was willing to share seats with AAP in the parliamentary elections, Hooda evaded the query by calling it a “hypothetical question”.

He was speaking to the media after the re-joining of former minister Nirmal Singh into the party. Singh, who had quit the Congress in 2019 to join AAP, rejoined the grand old party on Friday.

To the question of whether Singh’s action would affect the party’s ties with AAP in Haryana, which is an ally of the INDIA bloc, Hooda said there has been no seat-sharing arrangement with AAP yet.

“The INDIA alliance is a good and strong step, but there has been no decision yet on the seat-sharing between allies of the opposition bloc. In a democracy, both the ruling and the opposition sides need to be strong and this is the first step,” he told reporters.

Asked what would be the seat-sharing ratio with AAP, Hooda said, “We will talk about seat-sharing after some criteria are fixed.” On whether the Congress was willing to give any seats to AAP in Haryana, Hooda said, “It is a hypothetical question”.

To a question on the grant of party tickets, AICC in-charge for Haryana Deepak Babaria said, “We are going by merit and priority will be given to anyone fit on merit.”

The AAP is a key constituent of the INDIA bloc and the party is in power in Delhi and Punjab. AAP is seeking to have a tie-up with the Congress and seat-sharing talks would begin soon.

Even as Punjab and Delhi state unit of the Congress are opposed to any alliance or seat-sharing with AAP, its Haryana wing has not made anything clear.

The Congress which is contesting the Lok Sabha elections under the INDIA bloc banner is seeking to replace the BJP from power in 2024 through the support of like-minded parties in a united opposition.

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