The Aryavarth Express
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The Congress on Friday released its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal, and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
The list was released after the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party met in Delhi, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, and All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and Hooda, among others, attending the meeting.
The Congress first released a list of 31 candidates and a little later, in a statement, said the CEC has approved the candidature of Balbir Singh from the Israna (reserved for the Scheduled Castes) constituency.
Singh is the incumbent MLA from Israna. The grand old party has renominated all its 28 MLAs.
Besides Hooda, Bhan, and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
The Congress has named five women candidates. Barring Phogat, the other four, including former state minister Geeta Bhukkal, are incumbent MLAs.
Kiran Choudhry, who was earlier an MLA from the Congress, is now with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while another Congress MLA, Varun Chaudhary, successfully contested the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year from Ambala.
After the 2019 Assembly polls, the Congress had 31 MLAs. Later, Bhavya Bishnoi joined the BJP and is now a legislator from the ruling party.
The Congress has fielded Surender Panwar from Sonipat, Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak, Kuldeep Vats from Badli, Chiranjeev Rao from Rewari, and Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Panwar in July in an “illegal” mining-linked money-laundering case.
The Congress has also given a ticket to Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) rebel Ram Karan from the Shahbad reserve seat and Independent MLA Dharam Pal Gondar, both of whom switched over to the grand old party recently.
Phogat was also rewarded with a poll ticket shortly after she joined the Congress.
The Olympian will enter the fray from Julana in Jind district, which is considered to be the political heartland of the state. It is also a region that had a considerable impact during the farmers’ protest against three farm laws that have since been repealed.
Phogat has shared the stage with prominent farmer leaders in the past. While the wrestler hails from Balali in Charkhi Dadri district, her in-laws’ home town is Julana.
While most of the 28 incumbent MLAs are Hooda loyalists, a few of them are also close to senior Congress leader and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja, who is considered Hooda’s bete noire.
Rewari MLA Chiranjeev Rao is the son of senior party leader and former state minister Ajay Singh Yadav.
Earlier, on the possibility of any MP contesting the polls, Babaria said after the CEC meeting, “To date, no MP has been permitted to contest Assembly elections.” Asked about Phogat contesting the polls, he said, “I think it has been decided that she will contest from Julana.”
The Congress is also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides.
However, the prospects of a tie-up appeared bleak on Friday, with both sides hardening their stance.
The Congress has been engaged in hectic consultations over the last few days to explore the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Haryana polls, even as some of its leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The sources said the Hooda faction of the grand old party and some other leaders are opposed to a seat-sharing deal with the AAP. According to these leaders, Kejriwal’s party does not have much ground in Haryana.
Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of “not being scared or backing off.”.
Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.
The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5, and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.
