Cong internal strife comes out in open ahead of Sirsa civic body election

The Congress in the state is currently facing some challenges and seems to be struggling to learn from its past mistakes. Despite efforts of the party leadership, some local leaders appear more focussed on their differences than on working together. The internal rift is visible in the upcoming local body elections in Sirsa, where local Congress leaders have expressed disagreement with an outspoken Congress MLA, who in turn has also shared his views against them.

For the local body elections in Sirsa, the Congress had appointed Paramvir Singh, the MLA from Tohana, as the in charge, while senior leader Sampat Singh’s son Gaurav Sampat was made the co-in charge. Other local leaders like Raj Kumar Sharma and Naveen Kedia were given roles of convener and co-convener, respectively. During a meeting, it was decided that the Congress would not contest the elections using its party symbol. However, local MLA Gokul Setia was not present at the meeting.

On February 17, Congress nominated Jaswinder Kaur, a candidate supported by Setia, for the position of chairperson of the Sirsa Municipal Council. On the same day he also released a list of 30 ward candidates. On February 19, a meeting was called by local Congress leaders, which decided not to support Setia’s candidates.

After this, Setia openly took a jibe at local Congress leaders in a Facebook post. He wrote, “Some Congress members had a kitty party yesterday, where they decided to target Gokul Setia.” The latter further stated that they didn’t want to target him personally, but instead wanted to target the people of his city and defeat them. He also accused the local Congress leaders of being unhappy with the work he was doing for the city.

Meanwhile, at the inauguration of Mamta Kakkar’s election office, a candidate for ward No. 12, on Thursday, Setia mentioned that some officers and contractors were worried about his return. He also spoke about the work he had done over the last three months, such as helping in sending around 1,200 stray animals to cow shelters, improving cleanliness by bringing employees back to their duties and addressing city issues like water and sewerage through a toll-free complaint number.

In response, Raj Kumar Sharma, a local Congress leader, said that he would meet his supporters on Friday to decide on the next course of action. Later, Sharma posted a status on WhatsApp, saying that, “Your arrogance will be your downfall, time will show who I am.”

Setia is seeking votes based on his work in the city, while the BJP is campaigning on the development under the Chief Minister.

Interestingly, after the Haryana BJP unit announced the list of the election management and campaign coordination committee, which included state minister Krishan Bedi, BJP leader Gobind Kanda, HLP leader Gopal Kanda and former MLA from Fatehabad Dura Ram Bishnoi, a different scene unfolded.

On Wednesday evening, BJP leaders were seen lined up at Tara Baba Kutia, a religious place run by Kanda brothers. Besides, today was the last day for candidates to withdraw their nominations. On that day, 16 independent candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 123 candidates in the race. Additionally, two candidates’ applications were cancelled the previous day. For the position of chairperson, five from parties and two independent candidates are in the race.