Bad blood in Haryana Cong resurfaces in poll meeting

CHANDIGARH :Infighting between former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar yet again came to the fore at a state organisational election meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, which lasted for about three hours, was chaired by senior party leader and AllIndia Congress Committee (AICC) central election authority secretary Madhu Sudan Mistry. Hooda, however, did not come to the party office to attend the meeting.

Tempers ran high, loud and heated arguments were witnessed when MLAs Karan Dalal, Kuldeep Sharma, Shakuntala Khatak and former legislator BB Batra, who belong to the Hooda camp, told Mistry that there were several complaints of bogus party membership, while Tanwar’s supporters rejected their claim.

Dalal claimed that Khatak was roughly treated by Tanwar’s supporters.

Dalal and Sharma said that shouting and arguments vitiated the atmosphere. State Mahila Congress president Sumitra Chauhan favoured election of state president by consensus and not through voting.

Harpal Thakur, a party leader from Madhya Pradesh, said he had received complaints related to bogus membership. “Today’s meeting was to receive complaints and objections and we will address each of them in the days to come,” he later said.

On June 22, too, the rift between Hooda and Tanwar had hit a new low with as leaders physically pushed each other. The meeting was convened by former Union minister Pradeep Kumar Jain Aditya, who was appointed returning officer (RO) by the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) .

The MLAs belonging to the Hooda camp have not attended the HPCC meetings since October last year. They have also not attended the meeting called by Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Kiran Chaudhry before the budget session in March.

The differences were clear after a clash broke out between the supporters of the two leaders in New Delhi in October last year while waiting to welcome party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Besides some of his supporters, Tanwar was injured in the clash. His supporters lodged a police complaint against several people, including Hooda’s personal security officer.