New Delhi: Haryana assembly election results have sprung a surprise as the BJP is looking all set for a hat-trick, defying pollsters who had projected an easy win for the Congress. The BJP, defying all odds, won 48 seats, crossing the halfway mark (46 seats) with ease. The Congress managed to win 37 seats. Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP suffered a big setback ahead of the Delhi assembly polls as the party failed to open its account.
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Kejriwal, who recently resigned from the post of Delhi CM, was looking to expand parties footprint in his home turf Haryana. However, party's dismal outing had dealt a major blow to AAP ahead of the crucial Delhi elections.
What Went Wrong For AAP?
AAP lackluster show in Haryana has sparked a debate if not joining hands with Congress was a tactical blunder. Notably, despite resentment from local leaders, senior leadership of Congress, including Rahul Gandhi wanted to ally with AAP for Haryana as it would have prevented division of votes and would have further consolidated the Opposition against the ruling BJP.
However, the alliance talks reportedly failed over seat-sharing arrangements as AAP is said have been demanding 10 seats which was not acceptable to the Congress. The Congress was will to concede seven seats to AAP, however, the talks failed to move further.
AAP was claiming to be a key player considering it's strong presence in two neighbouring states — Delhi and Punjab, where they are power. Taking a page from the BJP's playbook, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha claimed that this would allow the party to drive a "triple engine" of development in the state.