Congress' Haryana unit chief Kumari Selja and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda during a party election commitee meeting at Punjab Bhavan in New Delhi | PTI
The Congress late Wednesday night released its list for 84 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, fielding all its sitting MLAs except one.
Former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda will contest from his Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat, while the party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala will contest from his Kaithal Assembly constituency.
Hooda had earlier almost raised the banner of revolt against the Congress. But, Hooda and the Congress need each other to combat the aggressive electoral campaign of the BJP. Hooda is considered by many as the best bet for the Congress. He was a two-time chief minister and a four time MP. Till the time the UPA was in power, Hooda helped Congress with men and material to hold rallies in the national capital for the Central leaders.
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Hooda had declared himself as the chief ministerial candidate without even waiting for an endorsement from the party leadership. He had a running feud with Congress state president Ashok Tanwar whom he wanted to replace. In a bid to end factionalism, the Congress named Kumari Selja chief of its state unit, replacing Tanwar, and appointed Hooda as chairperson of the election management committee.
On Wednesday, outside Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence, Tanwar and his supporters protested alleging corruption in distribution of tickets for the upcoming assembly polls.
As his supporters raised slogans against management committee chief Hooda, Tanwar alleged that tickets were being distributed on whims and fancies and were being "sold", ignoring those who had worked for years.
Out of the 17 sitting MLAs in the Haryana Assembly, the party fielded 16, barring Renuka Vishnoi who represented the Hansi constituency.
Both the sons of former chief minister late Bhajan Lal have been fielded by the party, with Kuldeep Vishnoi from Adampur, in Hisar, and his brother and former deputy chief minister Chander Mohan from the Panchkula seat which he earlier represented.
The son and the daughter-in-law of former chief minister Bansi Lal have also been given party tickets, with Ranveer Mahindra fielded from the Badhra seat and Kiran Chaudhary from the Tosham seat.
Former Assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma has been fielded from the Ganaur Assembly seat, while another former minister, Geeta Bhukkal, has been fielded from the Jhajjar reserved constituency.
Former minister Anand Singh Dangi has been fielded from his traditional Meham constituency.
The names of Haryana Congress chief Selja and former state unit chief Ashok Tanwar do not figure in this list.
Elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly will be held on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24.
-Inputs from PTI
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