New Delhi, 9 Sept

Ending the suspense over an alliance with the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decided on Monday to go solo in the Haryana Assembly polls as it released its first list of 20 candidates.

The decision came amid alliance talks between the AAP and the Congress that dragged on and in view of the nomination window for the polls closing on September 12.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5.

The AAP has fielded candidates from Naraingarh, Assandh, Samalkha, Uchana Kalan, Dabwali, Meham, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Badli, Beri, Mahendragarh and Badshahpur. The Congress has already announced its candidates from these seats.

On the issue of an alliance with the Congress, AAP's Haryana president Sushil Gupta said, "I want to say it very clearly that we have been preparing for all the 90 seats since day one. There is not much time left for the polls, the last date for filing nominations is September 12. So the wait is over."

He asserted that the AAP is in a position to provide a strong alternative in Haryana, adding that the party's second list of candidates will also be released soon.

Another AAP leader, Sanjay Singh, said the party will fight the Haryana polls with full strength.

Earlier in the day, Gupta had said the AAP would release the names of its candidates from all 90 seats if the Congress failed to seal the deal by the evening.

The talks between the two parties were stuck up over the number of seats to be contested by the AAP.

According to sources, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party was demanding 10 seats, while the Congress had offered it only five.

According to the list of candidates shared by the AAP, its Haryana unit senior vice-president Anurag Dhanda will contest the election from Kalayat, considered to be a stronghold of former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Indu Sharma from Bhiwani. Vikas Nehra has been fielded from Meham, while Bijender Hooda is in the poll fray from Rohtak.

The failures of the AAP and the Congress to agree on a seat-sharing arrangement in Haryana also puts a question mark on the possibility of a tie-up between the two parties in Delhi, which is scheduled to go to polls early next year.

The AAP has fielded Kuldeep Gadrana from Dabwali, a bastion of the Chautala clan. Other party contestants include Kuldeep Chikara from Bahadurgarh, Randir Guliya from Badli, Sonu Ahlawat Sheria from Beri, Ravinder Faujdar from Ballabhgarh, Dharmender Khatana from Sohna and Bir Singh Sarpanch from Badshahpur.

Gupta said the countdown for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) exit has begun in Haryana and added that "the AAP will not allow the BJP to benefit at any cost". He was replying to a reporter's question on whether the AAP's decision to go solo will benefit the saffron party in Haryana.

On the alliance prospects with the Congress, Singh said, "We do not have sufficient time. We are now engaged in finalising the candidates' names for the remaining seats."

On Sunday, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, who was holding talks with Congress leaders over a prospective alliance, said both parties were trying to form a coalition for the Haryana polls, keeping aside their individual aspirations.

Dhanda thanked the AAP leadership for giving him the opportunity to fight the polls.

He said the state leadership had clear instructions to make preparations for all the 90 seats. Reflecting on had the tie-up materialised between his party and the Congress, the AAP leader said, "We had said we will follow the order of our party high-command."

Haryana has been looking for a viable alternative for a long and the AAP will provide it, Dhanda said, adding that the names of the other party candidates will be released very soon.

The AAP will give a strong, viable alternative to the people of Haryana this time, he asserted.

The party has reached every household in the state and "we have workers at every booth", Dhanda said.

Campaigning in Haryana on Friday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said if people want good education, jobs and hospitals, they should vote for the AAP in the upcoming Assembly election.

The Congress and the AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi while they had contested the election separately in Punjab. In the general election, the Congress had given one seat to the AAP in Haryana, which it had contested unsuccessfully.

In the 2019 Haryana polls, the AAP had contested 46 seats, but failed to taste success.-PTI