New Delhi: Though the camp of former Chief Minister BS Hooda got the major share in the distribution of tickets for the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls, the Congress told the regional leaders that no Chief Minister face would be projected during the campaign. According to party insiders, the high command had initially faced a tough task distributing tickets for the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana as the camps belonging to senior leaders like BS Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala all wanted a say in the matter.
However, deft handling of the issue by Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge resulted in a balanced distribution of tickets in which all sides were happy. According to party insiders, out of the 90, around 70 seats have been given to those belonging to the Hooda camp, nine to Selja’s camp, two seats to Surjewala camp and one seat to Ajay Yadav camp. As many as six seats were directly decided by the AICC.
“The ticket distribution has been completed successfully. A lot of care and due diligence was taken in the distribution of party tickets. We came up with a good list. That was the reason there was no dissent in the state unit after the announcement of the candidates. In contrast, there is a lot of infighting within the state BJP after the saffron party announced tickets,” AICC secretary in-charge of Haryana Manoj Chauhan told ETV Bharat.
Over the past few days, there had been a concern within the AICC as former union minister and Lok Sabha MP Kumari Selja threw her hat in the ring saying there was nothing wrong in having Chief Ministerial ambitions. Knowing this could cause problems, the high command decided not to give Assembly tickets to MPs like Selja, Surjewala and Deepender Hooda, who were being projected as a potential Chief Ministerial face by the camp of BS Hooda.
Well-known wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who has been fielded by the Congress from the Julana seat and belongs to the Hooda camp, has been seeking votes in the area saying it was time to make Deepender Hooda the next Chief Minister.
“The party is confident of winning the state after 10 years, but we will not project a CM face. The entire Haryana Congress is united and all the senior leaders are working together. We will run a strong campaign to expose the BJP government, which pushed the state backwards over the past 10 years. The CM face would be decided by the elected MLAs after the polls,” said Chauhan.
According to party insiders, the Congress also maintained a balance of caste equations in ticket distribution as 35 nominations went to Jats, OBCs 20, SCs 17, Muslims six, Brahmins four, Vaishyas two, Punjabis six and Rajputs one. The AICC functionary said fielding Vinesh was not due to political considerations, but a way of supporting the female wrestler, who had levelled sexual harassment charges against BJP leader and former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“Vinesh is a national pride. We gave her a ticket to stand with the wrestler in her fight against injustice. The BJP backed Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and mocked her. Now she has gone to the people’s court,” Chauhan added.
