‘Tired of waiting’ for seat-sharing with allies, AAP announces 3 candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Assam

Saying it is “tired of talking” about seat-sharing with alliance partners, the Aam Aadmi Party’s central leadership on Thursday announced candidates for three out of Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha seats. At the same time, the party insisted that it is “strongly” with the Opposition INDIA bloc.

AAP has not yet announced any candidates from either Delhi or Punjab, states where the party is in power.

The party, which has previously not contested any parliamentary or Assembly elections in Assam, is part of the INDIA bloc nationally and is also one of 15 parties in the United Opposition Forum alliance in Assam.

The United Opposition Forum had been stitched together even before the INDIA bloc was launched, and it had announced that it would field consensus candidates to all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state. None of the other parties in the alliance – Congress, TMC, RJD, CPI(M), CPI, and regional parties like Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal and Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s Assam Jatiya Parishad – have announced candidates in the state.

Of the 14 current MPs from Assam, nine are from the BJP, three are from Congress, one is from the All India United Democratic Front, and one is an Independent.

On Thursday, AAP’s national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak made an official announcement declaring its state president Bhaben Choudhury as its Guwahati candidate, state vice-president Manoj Dhanowar as its Dibrugarh candidate, and state organising secretary Rishiraj Kaundinya as Sonitpur candidate. Having claimed these three seats through its announcement, the party sought to appear to leave the ball in its alliance partners’ court, saying that it hoped the INDIA alliance would give these seats to AAP.

“We have quite little time left for Lok Sabha