Chandigarh: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday said his Congress party would field a "strong" candidate for the Adampur assembly bypoll in a day or two. Hooda's comment came after senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary flagged delay in finalising the name of the candidate for the bypoll. The ruling BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party had last week announced their candidates for the November 3 bypoll.
Kuldeep Bishnoi's resignation as the Congress MLA in August necessitated the bypoll for the Adampur seat in Hisar district. He joined the BJP on August 4. The BJP has put up Bishnoi's son Bhavya as its candidate. "The Congress will field a strong candidate for the by-election and we will announce the name in a day or two. We will win the bypoll," Hooda said in Karnal.
Speaking to reporters in Bhiwani, party MLA Kiran Choudhary launched a veiled attack on Hooda in reference to the Adampur bypoll, saying one person was taking all decisions. Referring to the process for short-listing a candidate, Choudhary, who is considered as Hooda's bete noire, said there is a process and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) discusses the names of probable candidates and then they are short-listed. "But this time as you know one person is taking all decisions...," she said in a veiled attack on Hooda.
The Adampur assembly constituency was earlier part of her late husband Surender Singh's parliamentary seat and his supporters are attached with the family, she said to another question. She said if all workers are taken along and they get their due, the Congress will surely win from there. Choudhary also said she will be campaigning for the Congress in Adampur. When reporters told Hooda that Choudhary had launched a veiled attack on him saying one person is taking all decisions, he responded, "Has she taken my name, then how are you saying so."
To another question, Hooda said there was no infighting in the Congress and that all were united. Earlier in April, the Congress had revamped its Haryana unit, appointing former legislator and Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as chief of its state unit to replace Kumari Selja, and naming four working presidents. (PTI)
