New Delhi:The leaving of MLA Kiran Chaudhary was unfortunate but would have no impact on the Congress prospects in the coming assembly polls, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Haryana Dipak Babaria said on Thursday.
"She (Kiran) belongs to an old political family. Even if a worker leaves it feels bad. She was a senior leader. Her leaving the party after a long stint is unfortunate but it would have no impact on the party's prospects,” Babaria told ETV Bharat.
Haryana MLA Kiran Chaudhary, daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, along with her daughter Shruti Chaudhary, who was made a state working president last year, joined the BJP on June 19 in New Delhi. Though Kiran did not name anyone, the mother-daughter duo made a veiled attack on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda saying the party was being run like a personal fiefdom of someone.
The political rivalry between Hooda and Kiran has been an open secret in the Haryana Congress and the leaving of a Jat leader just months ahead of the Assembly polls was not a good indicator.
The AICC in-charge refrained from taking any names but said that "no individual was bigger than the party." "It is natural though for leaders to have political ambitions," he quipped.
Party insiders said Kiran Chaudhary may now be made the BJP's Rajya Sabha poll nominee from the state against the seat vacated by Hooda’s son Deepender Singh Hooda, who is now a Lok Sabha member from Rohtak. Her daughter Shruti, a former Lok Sabha MP, may contest the Tosham Assembly seat currently held by Kiran, the party insiders said.
"That is up to her. I won't like to speculate on what was her deal with the BJP," said Babaria. During the previous round of Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress nominee from Haryana Ajay Maken had lost by one vote. Later, an internal probe questioned Kiran's role in that poll but no action was taken subsequently. When asked, Babaria refused to comment on the controversy. "I do not want to comment on that issue," he said.
The AICC functionary said the party was holding workers' conclaves across the districts of Haryana to thank them and would later hold similar gatherings in all the assembly segments to mobilise the party organisation ahead of the polls in November.
"Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge will meet all senior state leaders to discuss the Lok Sabha results on June 26. We will review if we could have bettered our performance of five out of 10 seats. Then we will decide the future course of action. I would visit the state from June 28 and would try to meet the activists," said Babaria.
Kiran had lobbied within the Congress for a Lok Sabha ticket for Shruti from the Bhiwani seat but the party gave the ticket to Hooda loyalist Rao Dan Singh who lost to BJP's sitting MP Dharambir Singh. Notably, Sirsa Lok Sabha MP Kumari Selja, who belongs to the anti-Hooda camp, had commented that had Shruti been fielded from Bhiwani she would have won the election.
In his defense, Rao Dan Singh, however, stated that Kiran had lost the 2019 national polls from the seat with a heavy margin which he was able to bring down to 40,000 votes. Kumari Selja had also stated that the Congress could have won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state given public anger against the BJP. Interestingly, out of the nine seats that the Congress had contested, eight nominees were Hooda loyalists.
