Shadow of Cong factionalism looms over Ambedkar Jayanti

 Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, April 24

Politics seems to have taken over the Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations, as the Haryana Congress is organsing two functions to mark its conclusion. 

The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) will be organising a programme in Karnal on May 1, while leaders owing allegiance to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will do so in Palwal on April 30.

The party has chosen Karnal, home district of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, to show its strength and pose a challenge to the BJP government.

“The decision was taken collectively at a meeting of a committee, comprising all top state leaders. The party has formed the committee to plan and oversee the celebrations. The Karnal programme will be a party function and all leaders will be there,” said Ashok Tanwar, president HPCC.

Asked if the Congress MLAs had been invited, he said there was no question of an invitation since the party was organising the programme and everybody was expected to attend it. “Moreover, the programme was finalised in the presence of all senior leaders, ” he said.

The Tanwar-Kiran Choudhry faction is working on making the May 1 programme a success. 

Non-committal about attending the Karnal programme, an MLA said that no invitation had come from the party’s state leadership. “BR Ambedkar belongs to everybody. We will hold our programme in Palwal to mark the conclusion of the celebrations. There is no restriction on the number of programmes that the leadership can organise. Every party leader is free to do so. The more the merrier,” an MLA said, trying to downplay the “separate” programme in Palwal.

Insiders in the Hooda camp claimed that the fact that the party’s state leadership had failed to question the BJP government at a time when its senior Rohtak leader Ashok Kaka had been shot dead, indicating a collapse of law and order in the state.

Hooda had threatened “Haryana bandh” if the culprits were not arrested within 72 hours of the murder. 

“The party leadership has refused to act in spite of this (the threat),” a leader said.

Tanwar, however, said the party would take up the matter in due course. “Kaka’s murder is another instance of the state’s loose grip on law and order. The party highlighted this in the past. It will not spare the government this time as well,” he added.