New Delhi: The Congress has urged its senior leaders in Haryana to fight the BJP unitedly and contribute to the grand old party’s success ahead of the rallies to be addressed by former chief Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge next week. According to party insiders, Kharge will address a rally in Sirsa on May 21 while Rahul Gandhi will address rallies in Bhiwani on May 22 and Gurugram and Rohtak on May 23.
Veteran Kumari Selja is pitted against BJP’s Ashok Tanwar in Sirsa, Raj Babbar against BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh in Gurugram, Rao Dan Singh against BJP’s Dharamvir Singh in Bhiwani and Deepender Hooda against BJP’s Arvind Sharma in Rohtak. Polling for all the 10 seats in Haryana will be held on May 25. As part of an alliance, the Congress is contesting nine seats while the AAP is contesting the lone Kurukshetra seat.
“I am sure all the senior state leaders will be present during the rallies of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. We have to fight the BJP unitedly,” AICC in-charge of Haryana Dipak Babaria told ETV Bharat. According to party insiders, factional fights between former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior Haryana leaders Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary had been a concern for the high command for long.
Ahead of the visits by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Babaria shot off a letter to the state unit in which he urged the senior leaders to fight the BJP unitedly and ensure that maximum polling takes place for the Congress in their respective areas. If that does not happen or the leaders are found indulging in some negative activity, their claim over the distribution of seats during the coming assembly polls will be affected, the AICC in-charge warned the state leaders.
According to party insiders, the Congress, which could not win any seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, is hopeful of turning the tables in 2024 based on the grand old party’s alliance with the AAP and infighting within the ruling BJP-JJP coalition.
Infighting in the Haryana BJP led the saffron party to replace former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini in March this year. Two months later, the Saini government lost its majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly and may have to face a trust vote after the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP’s ally JJP has been pressing for a trust vote at the earliest while the main opposition Congress has been demanding the dismissal of the Saini government, imposition of President’s rule and fresh elections at the earliest to end political uncertainty in the state.
ML Khattar is now contesting against Congress's Divyanshu Budhiraja in Karnal. However, the senior state leaders working separately during the crucial national elections had worried the Congress high command. Both Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary were spending most of their time campaigning for veteran Kumari Selja in Sirsa where Hooda had been conspicuous by his absence.
“Since I could not write letters to all the senior leaders individually, I wrote to the state unit. All our state leaders and workers have to put in their efforts to ensure maximum polling in their areas to defeat the BJP. The public is angry with the BJP and is liking Rahul Gandhi’s 25 social justice guarantees. Hence, the workers must take our promises to every household,” Babaria added.
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