Congress battles to keep flock together in Haryana

Former State Finance Minister resigns

October 08, 2019 10:28 pm | Updated 10:43 pm IST - CHANDIGARH

Sampat Singh. File photo: PTI

Sampat Singh. File photo: PTI

With less than two weeks left for the Assembly polls in Haryana, the Congress is battling to keep its flock together with former State Finance Minister and senior leader Sampat Singh being the latest to quit the party.

Mr. Singh was reportedly upset at being denied party ticket from Nalwa in Hisar district.

Announcing his resignation on Monday, Mr. Singh vowed to make sure that Congress candidates ended up forfeiting their deposits in Hisar district.

Last week, former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar resigned from the party.

More than 20 Congress leaders in Haryana including former Ministers and MLAs have quit the party in recent weeks. The prominent names include S.C. Chaudhary from Faridabad, Ramswarup Rama from Ratia, Subhash Chaudhary from Jagadhari, Ranjit Chautala from Rania, Mange Ram Gupta from Jind, Nirmal Singh from Ambala Cantonment and Satpal Sangwan from Dadri.

While the impact of leaders leaving the party would be largely confined to their respective Assembly segments, the psychological impact of the departures on party workers could be more significant, said Kushal Pal, head of the Political Science Department at the Dyal Singh College in Karnal.

“The impact of leaders such as Ashok Tanwar and Sampat Singh leaving the party would be limited to their respective constituencies and adjoining areas,” said Dr. Pal. “However, in the backdrop of the Congress party’s factionalism scenario in the State unit, the exodus of leaders could have a negative psychological impact on party workers,” he added.

Several former MLAs including Ramesh Gupta from Ladwa, Dura Ram from Fatehabad, Naresh Selwal from Uklana, Ramniwas from Barwala, Rambhagat Sharma from Narnaund, Naresh Sharma from Badli are among the others who have left the party.

The Congress leadership in the State, however, was undeterred, and termed the exits a “usual phenomenon” in the run-up to the elections. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Tuesday that “several leaders from the Bharatiya Janta Party and many from the Congress have left [their parties]; it’s not a big deal. It happens during election days. We are not worried about it, these are individual decisions.”

Asserting that there would be no negative impact on the party’s election campaign Mr. Hooda said, “party leaders and workers are united and we will jointly throw the ruling BJP out of power.”

Reacting to Mr. Tanwar’s charge of ‘corruption’ in the selection of candidates, Mr. Hooda dismissed the allegation as baseless. “Who took the money? Who gave the money?... it’s only false allegation and nothing beyond that.”

Meanwhile, Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja campaigned in Dabwali, where former MP Sushil Indora joined the Congress party. “Mr. Indora has joined the Congress to follow the policies and traditions of the party,” she said.

The Congress, which has been struggling to set its house in order, had last month appointed Ms. Selja as the president of the State unit and named Mr. Hooda as leader of the Congress Legislature Party in an attempt to end factionalism and project a united face of the party.

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