AAP gears up for battle in Kurukshetra

Nitish Sharma

Kurukshetra, February 25

After getting the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat under the seat-sharing agreement with the Congress, AAP leaders have started gearing up for a battle with the BJP.

AAP and the Congress leaders believe that the alliance wouldgive a tough time to the BJP in the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat, which is at present being represented by BJP state chief Nayab Singh Saini.

Sources in AAP said, “Several names, including the names of AAP state president Sushil Gupta, vice-president Balbir Saini and state spokesman Sumit Hindustani have been making the rounds for the party ticket but the final decision is yet to be taken.”

AAP in Kurukshetra, last month, had suffered a setback after the district chief Jagbir Jogna Khera, a loyalist of senior leader Ashok Tanwar, had left the party to join the BJP with his supporters, and AAP was yet to appoint its new district chief, besides opening a party office. “We have been working hard in the field for strengthening the party’s base. Soon, the leaders of AAP and the Congress will hold joint meetings in view of the elections in Kurukshetra and then similar meetings will be held in all nine Assembly segments too,” said AAP’s state spokesman Sumit Hindustani, who is also the convener of the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency.

To a query he said, “AAP will win the election. The previous district chief had quit last month but the party will soon announce its new district chief and also open the party office.”

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said a total of 43 persons had sought party ticket for the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency. The party high command had also asked senior leader Ashok Arora for contesting the Lok Sabha election but he didn’t show much interest as he had been focusing on contesting the Assembly election from the Thanesar Assembly constituency again. In the previous Assembly election, BJP’s Subhash Sudha had defeated Ashok Arora by a margin of over 800 votes.

When contacted, Ashok Arora, said, “The Congress has a strong base in Kurukshetra and we welcome the decision taken by the party high command. The Congress leaders and party workers will support the AAP candidate. Both parties will hold joint meetings soon and work together in the election to defeat the BJP.”

Nayab Saini defeated Nirmal Singh in 2019

In 2019 elections, BJP state chief Nayab Singh Saini had defeated his nearest rival from the Congress, Nirmal Singh, by an impressive margin of over 3.84 lakh votes. The Bahujan Samaj Party-Loktantra Suraksha Party alliance candidate Shashi Saini and JJP-AAP candidate Jai Bhagwan Sharma had secured the third and fourth positions, respectively