Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha is likely to dial Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi today over the high-stakes seat-sharing negotiations between the two parties for the upcoming Haryana assembly polls.
This comes almost a day after Chadha met Congress leader and AICC Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria on Thursday night. In this meting, the two discussed the Congress-AAP seat sharing arrangement in detail.
Congress and the AAP have an in-principle understanding on the alliance in the state and the division of seats between the two parties will be discussed soon.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eyeing 5-7 seats under the seat-sharing pact with the Congress, India Today reported citing sources. While AAP wants prominent seats, the Congress is considering giving them constituencies with an urban voter base.
Both the parties are likely to finalise a seat-sharing formula by Friday night, sources added. Haryana Congress leadership on Wednesday said that an alliance with the AAP is only possible if there is a "win-win" situation for the both of them and if there is a tie-up.
Deepak Babaria had said that as part of the seat-sharing agreement, the AAP could get seats in "single digits". As per Babaria, the CPI-M and Samajwadi Party are also expecting to work with the Congress in an alliance in Haryana.
Moreover, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said that his party would do "anything" to defeat the BJP. Sisodia added that an alliance with the Congress would be finalised only after AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal comes out of prison.
Any decision on whether the AAP will enter into an alliance with the Congress in Haryana will be taken by Kejriwal, as per sources.
This, however, is not the first time that Raghav Chadha has held talks with the Congress leadership over the seat-sharing deal in Haryana. Around 3-5 rounds of talks have happened between Chadha and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal.
In those meetings, possibilities of forging an alliance between the Congress and AAP were explored. Elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly will take place on October 5 this year. The votes will be counted and results will be declared on October 8.