Ananya Panda
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 21
Aam Aadmi Party has announced three candidates from Haryana as its talks with the Congress appear to have reached a stalemate.
AAP’s Haryana president Naveen Jaihind is the party’s candidate for Faridabad. He is up against BJP’s sitting union minister Krishanlal Gurjar and Congress party’s Lalit Nagar.
Panipat lawyer Krishan Kumar Aggarwal will fight from Karnal, against BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia.
Former DGP Prithvi Raj is AAP’s nominee for Ambala, against BJP’s sitting MP Ratan Lal Kataria and Congress’ Kumari Selja.
AAP meanwhile has forged an alliance in Haryana with the JJP, a newly-minted breakaway from Indian National Lok Dal.
The candidates for the remaining three Lok Sabha seats— Sonepat, Gurgaon and Kurukshetra—are likely to be announced later in the evening, Chautala said.
Chautala, Hisar’s sitting Member of Parliament, will contest from his constituency once again. JJP and AAP will hold roadshows in Haryana for two days—covering Sonipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala parliamentary segments on the first day, and Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, Hisar and Fatehbad on the second.
The roadshows will be held after candidates will file their nominations, which Rai said would be on Monday.
Rai blamed the Congress for the stalemate and said AAP’s alliance with Chautala’s party rattled the party. He also accused the grand old party of weakening the opposition in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, as well as Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.
“In the national capital, Congress cannot win a single seat and is hell-bent on dividing the anti-saffron votes by defeating the AAP in the capital. All opposition parties had thought of joining for a united front to out the BJP but the Congress backtracked,” he said.
Haryana will vote in the sixth phase of general elections on May 12. Votes will be counted on May 23.