Rahul Gandhi To Kick-Off Haryana Campaign From September 26 After Rival Capms Bury The Hatchet

The internal feud between the camps of former Haryana Chief Minister and State Chief Kumari Selja, a prominent Dalit leader was mended with the mediation of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The party is hopeful of wrestling power from the BJP after sitting on the opposition bench for a decade.

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will join the electioneering for the upcoming assembly polls in Haryana from September 26, days after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge intervened to settle differences between state rivals Bhupinder Hooda and Kumari Selja.

The polling for the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held on October 5 and results on October 8.

The Congress, which has been in the opposition for the past 10 years, hopes to wrest power from the ruling BJP this time.

Gandhi will address rallies in Asandh and the Barwala constituencies on Thursday. According to party insiders, his rallies got delayed due to the internal differences between the camps of former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda and former union minister Kumari Selja.

Earlier, Kumari Selja, a Dalit leader, was Congress’ Haryana unit chief but had differences with Hooda, who was the leader of the party in the assembly. Finally, Hooda was able to get his loyalist Udai Bhan, a Dalit leader, to replace Kumari Selja as the new state chief in 2022.

Kharge mediated between Hooda and Selja and paved the way for Gandhi’s campaign. Kharge was supposed to address two rallies in Ambala City and Gharaunda on September 23 but had to cancel them for the same reason.

Gandhi also tried to strike a balance between the rival camps. Shamsher Singh Gogi who belongs to the Selja camp is contesting from the Assandh constituency in Karnal while Ram Nivas Ghorela of the Hooda camp is contesting from the Barwala constituency in Hisar.

This way, both the Hooda and the Selja camps would be happy and able to project their closeness with the former Congress chief who is very popular in the state, said party insiders, adding that on the same day Kumari Selja, who had withdrawn from the campaign since September 12, will address a rally in the Narwana constituency in for party candidate Satbir Dublain.

“Rahul Gandhi’s speeches will boost the Congress campaign in the state. The Congress is united and is getting stronger in the state,” AICC secretary Manoj Chauhan told ETV Bharat.

“It is an honour for the people of Assandh that a national leader is coming here to launch his poll campaign. Earlier, we had to go to Karnal to hear him out. We are trying to make the September 26 rally a big success,” Assandh MLA Shamsher Gogi told ETV Bharat.

Chauhan said among other issues, the Congress is majorly highlighting the plight of farmers in Haryana who had been neglected by the BJP-led government over the past 10 years.

“The BJP does not care for the farmers which was exposed in a recent statement of their MP Kangana Ranaut who demanded that the three controversial farm laws withdrawn by the Modi government be brought back. The saffron party realized its mistake and distanced itself from the statement, forcing Ranaut to retract. But the damage has been done. The Congress will now expose their real intentions before the voters,” said Chauhan.