Bhupinder Hooda now shuts door on AAP in Haryana after INDIA trouble in Bengal, Punjab

In yet another blow to the Opposition INDIA bloc, former Haryana chief minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday indicated he was not inclined to have an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

“The Congress is fully capable and self-sufficient to win in Haryana. So far, there are no talks with the AAP. However, for a party to stake claim or demand seats, it should have a base. The AAP and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliance, could barely get 50,000 votes in three seats. In the 2022 Adampur Assembly bypoll, the AAP got just 3,400 votes. When a party has no base, on what grounds can they demand seats?” Hooda told The Indian Express.

Hooda’s comments came a day after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the Punjab unit of the AAP ruled out an alliance with the Congress in the two states. Both the AAP and Congress are a part of the INDIA bloc.

Sources said the AAP has been demanding 5 of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana as part of the INDIA alliance. These include the 3 Haryana seats which share a border with Punjab, where the AAP won the last Assembly elections with 92 seats in a House of 113 members.

The Congress hands are also tied as it might need to part with some Lok Sabha seats for the Left parties, which are INDIA partners as well.

The AAP had debuted in the Haryana Assembly elections in 2019, contesting 46 of the 90 seats and polled 0.48% votes – lesser than NOTA’s share, which stood at 0.53%. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP-JJP combine had secured a vote share of 4.9% while the Congress despite drawing a blank had a vote share of over 28%. The BJP had swept the state with a 58%