Cong introduces new faces to give party a new look

It has relied on the youth and fielded many youngsters,a few on the recommendation of Rahul Gandhi,whose recommendation for the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat met with success in the last elections. The party fielded Ashok Tanwar on the recommendation of Rahul Gandhi who won the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat in the last elections though the area is considered a stronghold of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

State Youth Congress president Sanjay Chhokar has elbowed out sitting MLA Bharat Singh Chhokar to get nomination from Samalakha. Former union minister Jai Prakash who finished third in the last Lok Sabha elections against former chief minister Bhajan Lal failed to secure a ticket for his brother Randhir Singh from Barwala,who is the outgoing MLA from the constituency. The party preferred a new face,Ram Niwas Ghorilla,from this constituency,much to the surprise of many. The Congress has replaced senior leader and outgoing MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala to accommodate his sitting MLA son Randeep Singh Surjewala at Kaithal as Randeep’s constituency of Narwana has been declared reserved after the delimitation.

Another senior leader Kharaiti Lal Sharma from Shahabad faced the axe to make way for Anil Dhandori. Ramesh Kaushik,known to have got the party ticket on the strength of previous Haryana affairs in charge of party Janardhan Dwivedi,is also cooling his heels in Rai where the party has given chance to Jaitirth Dahiya.

Two of the outgoing MLAs — Hariram Balmiki in Jhajjar and Jai Singh Rana in Nilokheri — were shown the door to accommodate two of their outgoing colleagues only whose constituencies had been sacrificed on the altar of delimitation. The party moved Meena Mandal to Nilokheri and Geeta Bhukkal to Jhajjar because their constituencies Jundla and Kalayat had been changed. The marriage/divorce episode of former deputy chief minister Chander Mohan cost him dear as the party has named D K Bansal from Ambala Cantt to contest from Panchkula.

Besides these leaders,the party fielded new faces like Kailasho Saini,who deserted the Indian National Lok Dal to join the Congress from Ladwa,where she would be face to face with former INLD president Sher Singh Badshami. Three Independents — Dinesh Kaushik,Naresh Sharma and Harsh Kumar — who joined the party on the eve of the elections will be in the fray on the Congress ticket from Pundri,Badli and Hathin respectively.

CM Hooda has given a chance to another new candidate,Bharat Bhushan Batra,from his home town Rohtak.