Haryana Cong ex-chief snubs poll campaign

◗ The real problem for the Congress will start when shortlisting of candidates begins. ◗ It will have to ensure that all of its leaders are on the same page.

The Congress has found itself in tight spot in election-bound Haryana even after the rejig in the state unit. The new state unit chief, Kumari Selja, and leader of the legislative party Bhupinder Singh Hooda are campaigning in the state addressing party workers and supporters.

Interestingly, when the leadership was touring Sirsa, the former state unit chief Ashok Tanwar, who hails from the district, gave the occasion a miss, causing flutter among cadres. Similarly, when both of them were in Hisar district, Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi was not present. Instead, he was addressing workers in his town.

After many complaints from local leaders, the Congress high command was forced to remove Mr Tanwar from heading the state unit. Presently, Mr Tanwar is sulking. Reports also claim that his supporters shouted slogans outside the residence of general secretary in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad after he was replaced. In June this year, when a meeting of the MLAs and state leadership was called by Mr Azad, the situation went out of hand as Mr Tanwar allegedly started misbehaving with some of the MLAs. The meeting had to end abruptly. Though Mr Tanwar was placated after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the effects of the same are not visible on the ground. Supporters of Mr Tanwar are upset at the change of guard in the state. However, his support base is miniscule compared to that of Mr Hooda and the present state unit chief.

The ongoing factionalism in Congress had resulted in lack of synergy among senior leaders during Lok Sabha polls in April this year. As a result, all 10 Congress candidates, including some of its tallest, badly lost to BJP candidates in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The party has not yet started the process of screening possible candidates and the Central Election Committee meetings have not yet started.

The real problem for the Congress will start when shortlisting of candidates begins. All the leaders of the state, which include Randeep Singh Surjewala, Captain Ajay Yadav, Ashok Tanwar and Kuldeep Bishnoi will try and exert pressure that their supporters should get maximum number of tickets.

The Congress will have to do a tightrope walk to ensure that all leaders, after the distribution of tickets, are on the same page and rebel candidates are not put up.