Feud flares up in state Cong unit over ticket distribution
‘TICKETS ON SALE’ Party leader Ashok Tanwar protests with supporters outside Sonia Gandhi’s residence in Delhi alleging corruption in ticket distribution; Capt Ajay Yadav also questions leadership
CHANDIGARH: The tussle within the faction-ridden Haryana Congress unit over selecting candidates for the October 21 Vidhan Sabha elections reached the forecourt of the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.
Even as the ignored ticket aspirants made a last-ditch effort by staging a protest outside Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence in Delhi, two frontline Haryana Congress leaders Ashok Tanwar and Capt Ajay Singh Yadav accused the party leadership of “selling tickets” and ignoring those who had given “both sweat and blood to strengthen the Congress in Haryana in past five years”.
The Congress was expected to release list of its candidates ahead of October 4 deadline for filing nominations.
In what was seen as a last ditch effort, Ashok Tanwar, who was recently ousted from the post of state Congress chief, and his supporters reached Delhi and targeted in particular former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for “ignoring genuine workers” during the ticket distribution exercise.
“We are seeking justice from party president Sonia Gandhi,” Tanwar said when contacted over phone, describing the exercise to select candidates as “onesided.” “Those holding protest in Delhi are the genuine party workers who had worked with me for five years. They must get tickets to contest polls. It is my moral duty to support their cause and highlight their anguish,” he added.
When the ticket seekers supported by Tanwar were holding protests, Congress’ former state finance minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav also fired the salvo at the party leadership.
Capt Yadav, via his official Twitter handle, targeted the screening committee headed by Madhu Sudan Mistri for finalising the list of candidates for assembly elections for “totally ignoring those Congress candidates who worked with loyalty for five years”.
He said that party has given preference to “defectors and non-Congress men” in distribution of tickets and described the exercise “disgusting.”
Addressing the protesting party workers in Delhi, Tanwar said people who joined the party recently were being rewarded with tickets at the cost of those who worked to strengthen the party in the past five years.
The ousted state party chief alleged the Congress was selling tickets to “undeserving” candidates.
Earlier, Tanwar’s audio message was circulated wherein he is heard asking his supporters to protest outside the AICC headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday.
Party treasurer Ahmed Patel first held parleys with Tanwar. Later he met Hooda and discussed alleged irregularities in the ticket distribution process.
After the BJP came to power in Haryana in October 2014 and Tanwar was made state party president, the Haryana Congress had been grappling with factionalism. The party lost all the 10 Lok Sabha seats with huge margins and it is a divided house ahead of the crucial assembly elections.
In a bid to contain infighting, the Congress last month appointed former Union minister Kumari Selja as state party chief, replacing Tanwar — the key demand of former CM Hooda who was also appointed chairperson of the election management committee.
While the Hooda camp has been consistently targeting Tanwar for weakening the party in Haryana, now Tanwar is grabbing every opportunity to target his bête noire.
As Sonia Gandhi had appointed Hooda the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in place of Kiran Choudhry, the latter is also miffed over the distribution of tickets.
The ticket for Sohna assembly seat was sold for ₹5 crore. We will fix the situation. Some people said in Rohtak that the party had lost its way. When something is given to them, then the party is on the right path. ASHOK TANWAR, former Haryana Congress chief