Sampat lashes out at Congress leaders for poll debacles in Haryana

In a veiled attack on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former minister and Congress leader Sampat Singh alleged that favoritism and internal politics led to Congress' poor performance in the Assembly elections.

A video of Sampat Singh making strong remarks targeting Hooda went viral on social media today. Singh had addressed people in Barwala town of the district on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at the invitation of former Barwala MLA Ram Niwas Ghorela, who also targeted Hisar Congress MP Jai Prakash.

Sampat claimed that wrong allocation of tickets during the Lok Sabha polls cost the half of the total 10 seats in Haryana. Pointing out specific Lok Sabha seats, he said former MP Shruti Choudhary had been denied the ticket from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh where she could have registered the victory. Similarly, he also questioned decisions like bringing Raj Babbar to Gurugram and sidelining former minister Captain Ajay Singh.

Sampat alleged that some Congress leaders had colluded with the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections while referring to the ticket to a new face at the Karnal Lok Sabha seat where the BJP fielded former CM Manohar Lal Khattar.

Expressing his discontent with the decisions made by the party leadership, Sampat said internal conflicts and wrong strategies damaged the party’s prospects in the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly elections when the Congress was poised to register a win. Singh accused Congress leaders of betraying the people’s mandate by acting against their wishes, resulting in a setback to the party in the state.

Sampat also claimed that he was among the senior most leaders as he had made debut in the Assembly in 1982 as an Independent MLA and even had served as Home Minister in the Cabinet headed by the former chief minister Devi Lal. He claimed that his decision to join the Congress in 2009 helped the party win 40 seats which led Congress to return to power in the second stint.

Without naming anybody, Sampat said Congress needed a thorough cleanup.