Many Congress bigwigs fail to score

Even as Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda emerged victorious in the elections,many of his detractors in the Congress....

Even as Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda emerged victorious in the elections,many of his detractors in the Congress,including former finance minister Birender Singh,lost heavily in their areas of influence,resulting in the party being unable to win a simple majority. Rohtak is the only Lok Sabha constituency where Congress grabbed all the nine Assembly seats.

However,the party lost in most of the constituencies of Jind and Sonepat districts. The Jat leadership of the state in this area usually backed Birender Singh,but this time he lost to Indian National Lok Dal INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala in Uchana Kalan.

Jind district,known for the influence of Birender Singh and Shamsher Singh Surjewala,witnessed a complete rout of the Congress as it lost all five seats falling in it. Former power minister Randeep Singh Surjewala,who defeated Chautala in the last election from Narwana,had to move to Kaithal where his father contested last time as the constituency was declared reserved.

Union Minister for Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja,who is seen as being in the race for the CMs chair and projected by the Congress as a counter to the UP Chief Minister Mayawati,also failed to provide encouraging results in her constituency,Ambala,with the Congress losing five out of the nine Assembly seats. Among the losers was state Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana,who faced a crushing defeat at Mullana. Interestingly,it is in Seljas constituency that the Bahujan Samaj Party opened its account by registering a victory in Jagadhari.

Bhiwani,considered to be the stronghold of former chief minister Bansi Lal,also proved to be a disappointment for the Congress. Except for state Tourism Minister Kiran Choudhary,the two others Bansi Lals son and former BCCI chief Ranbir Mahindra contesting from Badhra and son-in-law Somveer contesting from Loharu lost at the hands of INLD candidates. Kiran,who is the daughter-in-law of the late Bansi Lal and whose daughter Shruti is MP from the area,could not have been too pleased about the results as the Congress had been able to win only three seats in the area.