Hooda group should fight CM, not raise party issues in public: Tanwar

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Congress president, Ashok Tanwar, on Tuesday asked 12 party MLAs, seeking his removal, to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state instead of raising internal matters of the party in public.

Terming the demand for his removal as “unfortunate”, Tanwar said the MLAs should have gone after the Manohar Lal Khattar government which is facing allegations of corruption, and added that they should have raised internal matters only on party forums. “It is a serious issue of discipline. I will bring it to notice of the high command,” he said.

The Haryana Congress chief said there are many important issues such as Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal where people of the state expect the Congress to take the lead in the assembly during the ongoing budget session.

CONG CHIEF’S LOYALISTS BURN HOODA’S EFFIGY

A day after Congress MLAs from the camp of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda took the party’s internal bickering out in the public and sought state Congress president, Ashok Tanwar, and CLP leader Kiran Choudhry’s ouster, supporters of Tanwar on Tuesday burnt Hooda’s effigy in his stronghold and hometown Rohtak.

Tanwar’s supporters gathered here at Congress bhawan and accused Hooda of “siding” with the BJP for his “vested interests”. They also sought his ouster from the party.

The rivalry between the two factions intensified after the Delhi Police booked Hooda and his son Deepender for assault on Tanwar on the basis of a complaint filed by the latter’s loyalist.

Supporters of the two groups had clashed in October last year when they were waiting to welcome Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.