"They Have Looted India": AAP Denies Congress Tie-Up For Chandigarh Polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday rejected reports of a tie-up with Congress for the upcoming mayoral elections in Chandigarh, saying the party has "looted the country". 

The party's Anurag Dhanda said that there can "never" be any alliance with the Congress, days after Congress leaders said that they were holding discussions with the AAP. 

"There is no alliance of the Aam Aadmi Party with the Congress anywhere, nor can there ever be any alliance. The Congress has looted this country in collusion with the BJP. The AAP is the real voice of the common man's struggle against these two parties that have looted the country," he posted in Hindi on X.

His reaction came after Chandigarh Congress President Harmohinder Singh Lucky said that "talks were on" with the AAP to "block the BJP".

Tensions between the two opposition parties had flared this month after AAP's Chandigarh in-charge, Jarnail Singh, accused the Congress of having an understanding with the BJP for power-sharing. 

Lucky, however, hit back and questioned AAP's role in the 2024 municipal setup, where the mayor was from the AAP, but the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor went to the BJP.

AAP's Chandigarh Mayor Polls Candidates

The AAP also announced its candidates for the January 29 elections and declared Yogesh Dhingra as the mayoral face. 

It also fielded Munnavar Khan as senior deputy mayor and Jaswinder Kaur as a deputy mayor.

The three candidates will file their nomination papers at the Municipal Corporation office in Chandigarh at 4:00 PM today, the party said.

The BJP currently holds 18 councillor seats in the 35-member Municipal Corporation House. The AAP has 11 councillors, while Congress has six.

The mayoral term for 2026 will be the fifth and final term of the current five-year municipal corporation, which has been in effect since 2022. For this term, the mayor's post is reserved for the general category.