The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), partners in the Opposition's INDIA bloc, are in discussions to finalise a coalition for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections to be held on October 5.
According to a report by India Today, the parties have reached "in principle understanding" to contest the next month's elections together.
AAP sources told PTI that while the party is seeking 10 out of the 90 seats to contest, the Congress is prepared to offer only seven seats.
The AAP sources also said that senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and Congress' KC Venugopal have already held two rounds of talks and are likely to meet again in a day or two.
"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is demanding 10 seats. However, Congress is ready to give only seven out of a total of 90 seats. AAP has claimed one seat from each of the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies," said a source in the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The talks come after several media reports emerged claiming that Rahul Gandhi had expressed interest in a potential alliance with the AAP during the Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Monday.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh welcomed the reports of Gandhi's interest, but noted that any decision will be made after approval from the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"Defeating the BJP and its politics of hatred and politics against people, farmers, and youth is a priority for all of us," Singh said.
"Any final decision in this regard will be taken by our leaders associated with organisational and election-related works in Haryana, after approval of Kejriwal," said the senior AAP leader.
Delhi minister Atishi said the decision will only be taken after Kejriwal is released. "Rahul Gandhi has sought opinion from Congress leaders and only they can answer. We have got to know about it from the media. As far as the alliance goes, the decision will be taken after Arvind Kejriwal comes out," she told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
The latest developments indicate a stark U-turn after both parties had earlier decided to contest the Assembly elections by themselves.
On July 18, the AAP had announced its intention to go solo and came up with the slogan, ‘Badlenge Haryana ka haal, ab layenge Kejriwal’ (Will change Haryana by bringing in Kejriwal) to kick start its campaign.
The Congress leaders in Haryana have also rejected the possibility of any alliance with AAP in the state. On August 24, senior Congress leader Kumari Selja had firmly ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the AAP, stating that the Congress will contest the polls on its own.
"We are partners (at the national level), but if you remember, it was decided that in every state, they (partners) can decide on their own. The AAP has gone on record first of the mark that they will not have an alliance in the Vidhan Sabha polls. I do think that the Congress is strong on its own and we will fight on our own," Selja had told PTI.
Asked about the possibility of an alliance with AAP, AICC general secretary in-charge of state Deepak Babaria said, "We are in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party, but nothing has been finalised yet. As soon as something is finalised, we will inform you."
Responding to another question, Babaria said, "We have to defeat the BJP and not allow votes to be divided."
His remarks came after a screening committee meeting of the party ahead of the CEC meeting later this evening.
On whether the Congress will field Vinesh Phogat in the upcoming Haryana Elections, Babaria said, "You will get clarity by tomorrow."
The Congress' CEC had met here on Monday and finalised the names of 34 candidates for the assembly polls in Haryana.
"Today, a meeting was held for Haryana by the Central Election Committee. A list of 49 names was presented by the state's screening committee, out of which 34 have been approved and 15 are pending," Babaria had said last evening.
Earlier, the Congress and AAP had a seat adjustment for Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
In Haryana, AAP state president Gupta was the lone party candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He lost to BJP's Naveen Jindal.
Gupta had recently asserted that AAP is ready to strongly contest all 90 assembly seats on its own "with an alliance with the people of the state."
