Congress and AAP caught between seat sharing ratio formula

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh Wednesday met Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad to take alliance talks forward in the state, sources said. According to the sources, Singh has proposed 6:3:1 seat sharing in Haryana in which Congress would fight from six seats, while the Jannayak Janata Party would field its candidates for three seats and one candidate would be fielded by the AAP.

But the Congress has proposed a 7:2:1 seat-sharing formula in which seven Congress candidates, two JJP candidates and one AAP candidate would contest the polls, the sources added. On Tuesday, a meeting was held at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence during which senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh and Satyendra Kumar Jain were present.

Following the meeting, the party said it is ready to have further discussion with the Congress and has appointed a representative to take the matter forward. The AAP has appointed Singh to hold the alliance talks. AAP sources said if the Congress wants alliance only in Delhi then it has to be in the 5:2 ratio and if an alliance is sealed for both Delhi and Haryana then the ratio can be 4:3 in the national capital and 6:3:1 in Haryana.

Amid a continuing blame-game over seat-sharing in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal Monday engaged in a public spat, with the Congress president accusing the AAP of making a "U-turn" over alliance talks, prompting the Delhi chief minister to hit back at him. Gandhi had said while the doors of his party are open, time is running out, but Kejriwal slammed him, questioning what U-turn was he talking about as the talks were still on.

(With inputs from agencies.)