Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge
Congress is lagging behind in the announcement of candidates in the Haryana election battle. Even 36 hours after the first list of BJP candidates was announced, the Congress has not announced the candidates. That too when the party had finalized the names of 66 candidates only last week. The party had earlier officially said that the ticket would be announced on September 4, but even after 2 days of this deadline, there is no murmur of ticket announcement in the Congress.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who was instrumental in ticket distribution, has gone on a US tour. Rahul will go to Dallas, Texas and Washington. Rahul’s program in Washington on September 10 is proposed. That means Rahul will return to Delhi only after September 10.
Congress has not announced the list but BJP is also taking a stand. The BJP says that the day the list comes, the shop will be empty.
Why is Congress delaying ticket announcement?
1. Unable to talk to colleagues
The Congress was initially planning to go it alone in Haryana, but in the end Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, suggested an alliance. After this, Congress leaders started talking to Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, CPM and SP. However, the talks with these parties have not been finalized yet.
It is being said that the demand from allies is high, while the Congress wants to give single digit seats to all parties. For example, Congress is working on a strategy of giving 5-7 seats to Aam Aadmi Party, 2 seats to SP and 1-1 seats to CPM-CPI in Haryana.
According to Congress sources, AAP is seeking a seat in Kurukshetra, SP is seeking a seat in Rewari-Gurugram area. The party is already in a strong position in these areas. Congress is still waiting for 1-2 days for talks. If this coalition does not happen, then the ticket will be announced by the party.
2. Feud between Hooda and Shailja-Surjewala group
Talking about the distribution of tickets in the Congress, on one side is Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and on the other is National General Secretary Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala. Both groups are determined to get maximum tickets for their respective supporters. Hooda’s camp is said to be stronger than the Shailja-Surjewala group.
Congress has also formed a sub-committee under the leadership of Madhusudan Mistry to resolve the entire dispute. It is being said that this committee will submit its report to the High Command in the proposed Central Election Committee meeting on Friday.
Congress does not want any kind of controversy after ticket distribution. Randeep Surjewala and Kumari Selja are also preparing to contest assembly elections. Both the leaders had recently contacted Rahul Gandhi for this.
3. There is still time to fill the form
Forms will be filled by September 12 for all 90 seats in Haryana. That means there are still 6 days left to fill the nomination. So Congress doesn’t want to rush ticket announcement. The Congress also wants to field BJP rebels on some seats, so that it can take advantage of the rebellion, so the party has kept the list of candidates on hold.
All 90 seats in Haryana are proposed to go to polls on October 5. The result will come on October 8.
There has been a stampede in the BJP after the announcement of the ticket
BJP announced 67 candidates on Wednesday. After this announcement, there is a panic in the party. So far more than 20 big leaders have sounded the bugle of rebellion. Savitri Jindal, Ranjit Chautala, Naveen Goyal, Laxman Napa are prominent among the leaders who adopted a rebellious attitude.
Questions are also being raised on the distribution of party tickets. BJP has changed the seat of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Karnal MLA Saini will now contest from Ladwa. BJP has also given high preference to turncoats and sons and daughters of leaders in ticket distribution.
Union Minister Rao Indrajit Singh’s daughter Aarti Rao has been nominated from Ateli, while Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Chaudhary’s daughter Shruti Chaudhary has been nominated from Tosham.
