Yogendra Yadav, the AAP candidate from Gurgaon who lost in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, chose not to speak much on the issue. (Source: PTI) Yogendra Yadav, the AAP candidate from Gurgaon who lost in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, chose not to speak much on the issue. (Source: PTI)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday made it official that it will not be contesting the forthcoming state Assembly elections in Haryana.

The decision was taken during the AAP working committee meeting headed by Yogendra Yadav in Karnal. The state working committee of AAP passed a resolution of not contesting the elections and sent it to the party high command.

AAP spokesperson Rajesh Godara said, “The meeting primarily focussed on the prevailing circumstances in Delhi. A consensus on whether to contest elections in Haryana could not be reached during the meeting, thus a resolution was passed and decision was finally taken not to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections in Haryana.”

Notably, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had last month hinted that the party would focus on Delhi and may not contest the Haryana Assembly polls. However, the party’s state working committee had a different opinion. The decision, therefore, brought fore the differences within the party.

“Rather than going to the polls with disagreements, the party decided not to contest this time. All what we discussed and agreed upon during the meeting today shall be communicated to the party high command,” Godara said.

While making the announcement, the AAP leader claimed that the decision was taken with a ‘heavy heart’.

“AAP had not entered the state politics with the intention of contesting polls and gaining power. Our aim was to establish ‘Swaraj’ across the country. Contesting polls is merely a stage in politics. The party workers in Haryana were in a state of dilemma, thus this meeting was held and a final decision was taken to end all sorts of speculations. We had to take this decision with a heavy heart”, Godara said.

Yogendra Yadav, the AAP candidate from Gurgaon who lost in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, chose not to speak much on the issue. “The state working committee’s decision shall be put forward to the party high command for further consideration, thus it shall not be appropriate for me to speak much on the issue”.

AAP workers in Haryana had been actively preparing for the forthcoming polls in the state, but the party high command wanted to keep its focus solely on Delhi. With AAP backing out from the polls on the last minute, the decision comes as a setback to the party workers of the state.

The meeting was attended by districts presidents, members of state working committee and the AAP candidates who contested the recent Lok Sabha polls.

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