Sampat Singh quits Congress, targets Bhupinder Hooda over ‘family rule’

In a fresh setback to the Congress in Haryana, senior leader and six-time MLA Prof Sampat Singh has quit the party, raising questions over its state leadership. Singh, a former Cabinet Minister, said he had “lost faith in the ability of the Congress to represent the interests of the people of Haryana.”

In a letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Singh launched a veiled attack on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda — without naming him — accusing the party’s state leadership of turning a “national party into a regional family enterprise.”

Referring to the nomination of “the son of the Leader” for Rajya Sabha in 2020, instead of a deserving Scheduled or Backward Caste member, Singh wrote that this reflected the capture of the party machinery by a select few. His remarks were an unmistakable reference to Deepender Singh Hooda, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha after losing the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Rohtak.

Singh also alleged “ticket chori” and “election chori” within the Haryana Congress. “Capable candidates were ignored, while tickets were given to those with money power. Close aides of the state leadership fielded loyalists as ‘Independent’ candidates to ensure Congress’s defeat,” he charged.

Recalling his long political journey, Singh said he had joined the Congress in 2009 after parting ways with Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD. “I was initially denied a ticket from my stronghold Fatehabad, which I had represented five times, and was shifted to Nalwa. Though I won the seat for the Congress, I was denied a Cabinet berth because I had met Kumari Selja, whose ministry approved a grant of Rs 18 crore for my constituency,” he alleged.

Singh further claimed he was denied tickets in both 2019 and 2024. Notably, he lost the 2014 Assembly election from Nalwa as a Congress candidate, briefly joined the BJP, and later returned to the Congress in 2024.

The former minister also named several prominent leaders who, he said, had left the Congress due to similar disillusionment. These included former CM Bhajan Lal, Rao Inderjit Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Arvind Sharma, Avtar Bhadana, Kiran Chaudhry, Shruti Chaudhry, Savitri Jindal, Naveen Jindal, and Birender Singh. He also mentioned Ashok Tanwar, who recently returned to the party.

Accusing the state leadership of sidelining Kumari Selja, Singh wrote that she was “systematically prevented from performing her duties” and removed as Haryana Congress president in 2022 “at the insistence of the state leadership.” “By marginalising Selja — a six-term MP and the tallest Dalit woman leader of the party — the Congress alienated Dalit voters, who boycotted the party in the Assembly polls,” he alleged.

Speaking to ‘The Tribune’, Singh said he would chalk out his next political course of action in due course.