8 ex-MLAs join Congress in Haryana

Chandigarh, May 23

The Congress today got a shot in the arm, with eight former MLAs joining the party in the presence of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Uday Bhan and former Chief Minister (CM) and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Welcoming the leaders into the party fold, Uday Bhan hoped that their joining the party would strengthen it in the run-up to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls of 2024.

Among the former MLAs, who joined the party included Sharda Rathore, Ram Niwas Ghorela, Naresh Selwal, Parwinder Dhull, Zile Ram Sharma, Rakesh Kamboj, Raj Kumar Balmiki and Subhash Chaudhary. The state president of the Loktantra Suraksha Party Kishan Lal Panchal also joined the Congress.

A majority of these leaders were with the Congress at one point of time but had parted ways over the denial of party ticket to them during the past Assembly elections.

Hooda said the joining by a number of prominent leaders from different sections of society showed that people saw the Congress as the only alternative to the BJP-JJP alliance.

Launching a scatching attack on the BJP-JJP government on corruption, he alleged that the coalition government was “knee-deep” in corruption and even one of the BJP MPs only reiterated what the Congress had been alleging over the years.

Hooda mum on Bishnoi’S Tweets

• While Hooda went gaga over the “ghar wapsi” of Congress leaders, he was mum on the tweets of senior party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi.
• Bishnoi had recently targeted the party high command for allegedly ignoring merit in the recent reshuffle in which Hooda loyalist Uday Bhan was elevated state party chief, while he was not given any prominent role.
• Bishnoi’s recent meeting with CM Manohar Lal Khattar also led to speculation over his next political move.