Congress, AAP fail to reach alliance for Haryana polls; Hooda, Khattar exude confidence of victory

New Delhi [India], September 9 : The seat-sharing talks between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party for Haryana assembly polls broke down on Monday with the ruling party in Delhi coming out with its first list of 20 candidates.
The Congress has already declared 41 candidates in the 90-member assembly.
Sushil Gupta, who is Haryana chief of Aam Aadmi Party, said that they waited patiently before releasing their first list.
AAP and Congress had fought the Lok Sabha election together in Haryana and Delhi and talks were being held for a seat-sharing for assembly polls in Haryana. While the Congress is learnt to be willing to give 4-5 seats, AAP is learnt to be insisting on at least 10 seats.
With three days left for filing nominations, leaders of both Congress and BJP expressed confidence of their victory in the polls. AAP leaders expressed confidence that BJP will be defeated in the polls.
Sushil Gupta said AAP remains a committed partner in the INDIA bloc at the national level.
"We were a partner of the INDIA Alliance. We are a partner of INDIA Alliance at the national level," he said.
He said that they "waited patiently" for a positive outcome from the talks with Congress and stressed the urgency of announcing candidates as the deadline for nomination process is approaching.
"We released the first list and soon you will get the second list. Now there is very little time left for the elections. We waited honestly (for the alliance) because the organisation is strong in every assembly and that strong organisation wanted us to contest the elections. We have shown our patience and after that, we released our list. I think the result will be positive for Haryana and BJP will be removed from Haryana," Gupta said.
Former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed confidence of the party's victory. "Congress aa rahi hain, BJP jaa rahi hain Haryana mein (Congress is coming, BJP is going)," he said.
Union Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar exuded confidence of BJP's victory.
"We know that this festival of democracy comes every five years. Nominations for Haryana Vidhan Sabha have begun. We have presented our first list of candidates. Whatever I have seen on the nominations, I can say that the Bharatiya Janata Party government is coming to power in Haryana for the third time," Khattar said.
Congress, which has come out with three lists so far, has fielded wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
Congress leader and party's candidate from Uchana Kalan Assembly constituency, Brijendra Singh said the party is in good shape to form government.
"When it comes to the state politics, Congress is well capable and today we are in a good condition to form a government with a huge majority but if you see it on a national political perspective, if there needs to be any seat sharing or compromise that has to be done as part of INDIA alliance, central leadership will take a call on that," Singh said earlier in the day.
BJP, which has declared majority of candidates for the 90-member assembly, has fielded Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Ladwa constituency and former state home minister Anil Vij from Ambala Cantt.
BJP has seen some of its leaders leaving the party over ticket distribution. Party leader Aditya Chautala resigned from the party on Monday and joined the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
INLD announced Aditya Chautala as its candidate from the Dabwali assembly constituency. Aditya Chautala, is the grandson of former Haryana Chief Minister Devi Lal. After joining INLD, Aditya Chautala said that he has worked hard for the BJP for 10 years but still attempts were made to "derail" him.
With AAP coming out with its list and INLD and JJP also in the fray apart from BJP and Congress, several seats in Haryana are likely to see multi-cornered contests.
In the list declared on Monday, AAP has fielded Indu Sharma from Bhiwani, Bijender Hooda from Rohtak, Kuldeep Chikara from Bahadurgarh, Manish Yadav from Mahendragarh, Dharmendra Khatana from Sohna, and Ravinder Faujdar from Ballabhgarh.
Voting for the 90-member legislative assembly in Haryana will be held on October 5 and the last date for filing nominations is September 12. Votes will be counted on October 8 along with that in Jammu and Kashmir.