Bishnoi’s absence marks day one of Congress poll panel meeting

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 19

Divisions in the Haryana Congress were apparent today with senior MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi skipping the maiden meeting of the state poll coordination panel and casting a shadow on the grand old party’s plan of putting up a united front.

The meeting held in the presence of Congress general secretary (Haryana) Ghulam Nabi Azad and under the chairmanship of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda however went ahead with the election preparation plans and decided to undertake a bus tour across Haryana from March 26 to 30.

Out of 15 coordination committee members, 14 attended the meeting with the exception of Bishnoi, who is said to be unhappy with the state of affairs in the Haryana Congress. Bishnoi is also learnt to have conveyed his sentiments to the party. News also is that he’s keen on fielding his son Bhavya from the Hisar Lok Sabha segment but the Congress hasn’t given him any assurance in this regard yet. On the contrary, some Congress leaders want Kuldeep Bishnoi to contest from Hisar.

Meanwhile, the bus travel of the Haryana coordination committee members was finalised today. It will start from Faridabad and end in Jhajjar. The aim is to deliver an “all-is-well” message to the voters who have long witnessed public displays of discord between the state Congress leaders.

Bishnoi’s absence from today’s meeting did spoil the optics for the Congress but Azad skirted questions around the missing senior leader and said the party was raring to go in Haryana.

To that end, the Congress will hold a meeting of Haryana workers in New Delhi on March 23 at the AICC headquarters. The idea is to sound the poll bugle in the state from this meeting and then take the campaign message of the party across Haryana by way of a bus tour to be attended by all top leaders.

The Haryana Congress coordination committee members who participated in today’s meeting were former minister Kumari Selja, Tanwar, CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Randeep Surjewala, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Ajay Singh Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Naveen Jindal, Kailasho Saini, Anil Thakkar, Kuldeep Sharma, Jaiveer Valmiki and Sardar Jaipal Singh Lali.

Former Haryana Assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma said, “The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere.”

It was after long that the state Congress leaders today sat on a common AICC platform and resolved to forge unity in the ranks. The challenge for them is to sustain this unity narrative until the elections.

Privately, party sources said state leaders understand the urgency of getting together in Haryana to counter an aggressive BJP, which won the MC elections followed by the crucial Jind byelection.

“The question in Haryana is one of collective survival or collective failure. Already a lot of time has been lost in figuring out the best way ahead and finding the right balance of leaders and castes. It’s time for some action now. Otherwise everyone will lose,” a Congress senior said.

Out of the 10 LS seats in Haryana, the Congress holds only Rohtak; BJP holds seven and INLD two.