Eyeing dissidents, HJC-JCP alliance waits for Cong list
The Congress central election committee failed to reach a consensus on the candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections.
More than the Congress’ ticket aspirants, it is the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the Jan Chetna Party (JCP) —formed recently by former senior Congress leader Venod Sharma — that are eagerly waiting for the ruling party’s list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections.
Unable to field candidates for the 90 Assembly seats, the HJC and the JCP — allies in the state — are looking to poach disgruntled leaders once the Congress list is out. With both Bishnoi and Sharma having once been with the Congress, they are relying on rebels in the party to fill the void in their candidate list.
The HJC and JCP, sources said, have broadly reached a seat-sharing agreement: The JCP will contest in 25 seats while the HJC will field candidates for the remaining 65 seats with Bishnoi being the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate. The two parties have, however, put their final list on hold as they scan for available leaders across the political spectrum.
This strategy has not been confined to just these two parties as the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has been accommodating senior leaders who had been denied tickets by the BJP, which is in turmoil ever since it released its second and final list on Saturday. The latest to join the INLD from the BJP are Chander Bhatia and Parvesh Mehta. Both hadn’t figured in the second list.
Meanwhile, the rebellion in the BJP spread to more districts on Monday as workers took to the streets while a number of disgruntled leaders parted ways with the saffron party. In Ambala, former MLA Jasbir Mallaur, who had joined from the INLD about five years ago, quit the BJP. Raghunath Tanwar, who was denied ticket in Panipat, has also quit.
Party workers took to the streets in Barara where the BJP has fielded Santosh Sarwan against their wishes. Sarwan is considered to be an outsider in the constituency. There is also unrest in the party’s units at Pundri, Indri, Faridabad, Pehowa and Kurukshetra.
Cong fails to reach consensus
The Congress central election committee failed to reach a consensus on the candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections. The poll panel has now sought the intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi to break the deadlock between Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state unit chief Ashok Tanwar, who continue to lock horns over certain candidates, especially those involved in the cash for CLU scam.
Sharma to contest from two seats
The BSP’s chief ministerial candidate in Haryana, Arvind Sharma, has forsaken his native Karnal and has announced to contest from Yamunanagar and Rai Assembly constituencies. Sharma had been the Congress MP from Karnal before he lost the seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections to the BJP’s Ashwani Chopra. He later joined the BSP.
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