Congress pitches for former MLA Ashok Arora in Thanesar

The Congress has reposed faith in its former MLA Ashok Arora from the Thanesar Assembly segment of Kurukshetra district.

The seat is currently held by BJP MLA and Minister of State for Urban Local Bodies Subhash Sudha.

‘Former councillors, leaders of various parties joining us’

People are coming out in large numbers to extend support to the Congress. Not only sarpanches and public in the rural areas, former councillors and leaders of various parties are joining us in urban areas too. — Ashok Arora, former MLA from Thanesar Assembly segment

Only 10 persons, including Arora, had applied for the party ticket from Thanesar. Soon after the ticket was announced, his supporters reached his residence to congratulate him. Arora, a prominent Punjabi leader of north Haryana, was the Transport Minister in the INLD government.

He contested and won his first-ever election in 1990. He was elected MLA in 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2009.

Subhash Sudha and Ashok Arora will be facing each other for the fourth time from this seat. In the 2009 elections, Arora had won this seat on INLD ticket while Subhash Sudha had contested as an Independent candidate and secured third spot. In the 2014 elections, he contested on BJP ticket and defeated INLD’s Ashok Arora by a margin of 25,638 votes from his traditional bastion. In 2019, they faced each other again. While Sudha again contested on BJP ticket, Arora contested on the Congress ticket.

In a close contest, Sudha managed to retain the seat by a margin of 842 votes. While he is confident of retaining his seat for the third time, based on the work done in the constituency over the past 10 years, Arora is leaving no stone unturned to regain his lost turf. A close contest is being expected between the BJP and Congress in these elections.

Arora is scheduled to file his nomination papers on September 12 in the presence of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Speaking to The Tribune, Arora said, “I am grateful to the party high command and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for retaining faith in me and giving me another opportunity to contest from Thanesar. We have been holding regular meetings and running campaigns in the constituency to strengthen the party’s position in the constituency. People are coming out in large numbers to extend support to the Congress. Not only sarpanches and public in the rural areas, former councillors and leaders of various parties are joining us in urban areas too.”

“The BJP has been trying to mislead the public but voters have decided to teach the party a lesson in the elections. All sections of society are unhappy with its policies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to fulfil his promises, including giving youth jobs and controlling inflation. We are confident that Congress will win the seat and also form the next government in Haryana,” he said.