Cong not to project any CM candidate: Tanwar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13

State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar said that the party would not project any leader as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

“The Congress usually does not declare its chief ministerial candidates before any Assembly elections. The leader of the legislature party is elected after the elections. It is only in certain exceptional circumstances that the chief ministerial candidate is declared before the polls. I think there are no exceptional circumstances in Haryana where the party’s priority is to throw out the inefficient BJP government,” Tanwar said here on Monday.

Tanwar’s statement assumes importance in the context of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s supporters projecting him as the next chief minister during his ongoing ‘jan kranti yatra’.

The state Congress has several other chief ministerial candidates, including Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Choudhry. In fact, during Tanwar’s ongoing ‘bicycle yatra’ he is also being projected as the chief ministerial candidate by his faction.

In fact, Tanwar on Monday again extended the olive branch to his detractors within the party saying he had no ‘issues’ with any of the Congress leaders. “Any leader, who has perceived difference of opinion with me, should directly approach me instead of airing his differences on other forum,” he said.

The Congress had announced Capt Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate before the Punjab Assembly elections in February 2017, giving rise to speculations that the party might repeat such an experiment in Haryana to cash in on the anti-incumbency against the BJP government.

During the recent months, several senior leaders such as Hooda, Tanwar and Surjewala have intensified their respective campaign through several rallies against BJP government across the state. While these leaders are busy in their respective show of strength, they are rarely seen on one platform.