Haryana leaders fret as Congress delays candidates’ list

GURUGRAM: Discontent is brewing in Haryana unit of Congress as several senior leaders are not happy with the party high command for delaying the announcement of candidates in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. Haryana will go to polls on May 12.

While there are strong speculations that the high command will give tickets to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son and sitting MP from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda, state Congress president Ashok Tanwar, Kumari Selja, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Shruti Chaudhary and Naveen Jindal, so far there is no indication from the party on the candidates contesting from four key parliamentary constituencies — Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Karnal.

The party’s central leadership, according to sources, will distribute tickets only after analysing the feedback it had received during the Parivartan Yatra organised by the Haryana Congress coordination committee. The rally was led by

AICC

general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Based on the feedback on Congress leaders of the state, Azad will shortlist the candidates and share his report with the party high command, which in turn will announce candidates, sources said.

“Azad received the feedback and observed popularity of the Congress leaders in their constituencies during the rally. On the basis of their performance during this rally, Azad has shared his report with the high command,” said a senior leader on condition of anonymity.

Capt Ajay Yadav, one of the probable candidates from Gurugram, said the party should announce the list of candidates at the earliest to give more time for holding public meetings and reaching out to voters in their constituencies. He also said a screening committee meeting could be organised on April 7, after which the final list of candidates would be announced.

While Hooda is a sitting MP from Rohtak, Jindal — a two-time MP — is likely to contest from Kurukshetra. Selja is a probable candidate from Ambala. Bishnoi is likely to contest from Hisar.

According to sources, while state Congress chief Tanwar’s candidature is almost final from Sirsa, the party would field Shruti Chaudhary from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency.

A party leader confirmed that Deepender had already launched his campaign, and started visiting 10-15 villages every day.

During the rally, senior leaders sought voters’ support to ensure Hooda’s victory, thus unofficially confirming his candidature from Rohtak, he said, adding the final list could be released by April 10.