New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday played down rumours over discontent that surfaced in the Haryana unit a day after party chief Sonia Gandhi announced a new team. Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, expressed his displeasure saying that both he and his supporters were angry over being left out.
“Friends, I have been reading your messages on social media. Your love has made me emotional. I am also angry like you, but I request you not to take any step till I get answers from Rahul Gandhi. If you are my well-wisher, please have patience,” Bishnoi tweeted in Hindi. Responding to the comment, AICC general secretary in-charge of Haryana Vivek Bansal told ETV Bharat, “Some people may be unhappy. Every decision may not be liked by all. But, such issues are short term. He is entitled to say that. It is not a heinous crime. Until it is within the parameters of discipline, there is no problem.”
Bishnoi had become hopeful as he had been called by party chief Sonia Gandhi, senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and AICC in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal over the past week as the high command held hectic consultations to revamp the Haryana team. Along with Bishnoi, the high command had also considered other non-Jat leaders like Udai Bhan and Rao Dan Singh to balance the caste equations given that a general consensus had emerged in favour of retaining former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the Congress Legislative Party leader in the Assembly.
Finally, the high command decided to name Udai Bhan, a prominent Dalit leader and a close aide of BS Hooda, as the new Haryana Congress chief. In order to balance caste equations in the northern state, the Congress chief also announced four working presidents, Shruti Choudhry, Ram Kishan Gujjar, Jitender Kumar Bharadwaj and Suresh Gupta, who will assist Bhan. Like Bishnoi, the supporters of former state unit chief Kumari Selja, a prominent Dalit leader, are also upset as she had to make way for Bhan, said sources.
In his capacity as the CLP leader, Hooda regularly took on the BJP-JJP government headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, but now the challenge before him is to take everyone along, bring the Congress back in Haryana and do well in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “The new rejig is an exercise in that direction only. Everyone has to work together. The new state chief will devise the future strategy, but if we are able to put our acts together and hit the streets, we can do well,” said Bansal. In 2019 the BJP won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana. Later, the Congress won 32/90 Assembly seats and Hooda became the Leader of the Opposition.
