The rebellion and discontent faced by the BJP after it released its list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls have now come to haunt the Congress, with a senior leader resigning and announcing that he will contest as an Independent a day after the party unveiled its first list.
The Congress’ first list of 32 names included former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, new entrant Vinesh Phogat from Julana and state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. Sitting MLA Rajinder Singh Joon was renominated from Bahadurgarh, prompting a rerun of a rebellion that the constituency had seen in 2019 as well.
Senior leader Rajesh Joon met his supporters and announced that he had resigned from all posts in the Congress and would be contesting from the seat as an Independent.
“The Congress leadership cheated me. I was promised a ticket but the promise was not kept. I will become an MLA by polling double the number of votes that the Congress candidate gets,” Mr Joon said.
Rajesh Joon and another Congress leader had also rebelled against the party after Rajinder Singh Joon was given the ticket in 2019. They had submitted their nominations from the Bahadurgarh Assembly constituency and had withdrawn them only after Bhupinder Singh Hooda had intervened.
Buoyed after winning 5 of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress will hope that the discontent in the party does not hurt its chances of dislodging the BJP from a Hindi heartland state it has ruled since 2014. The party’s central leadership has also faced pushback after senior leader Rahul Gandhi pushed for a tie-up with the AAP to avoid the division of votes.
While an in-principle agreement regarding an alliance had been announced on Wednesday, there appears to be a stalemate, with the AAP seeking 10 seats and the Congress willing to give up only five to seven.
BJP’s Troubles
The BJP has also had to face dissent from its leaders after it released its first list of 67 names on Wednesday. Energy Minister Ranjit Chautala and MLA Lakshman Napa quit the party after being denied tickets. While Mr Chautala has said he will contest as an Independent, Mr Napa announced that he will join the Congress.
Mr Chautala is the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal Chaudhary, one of Haryana’s tallest leaders, who served as chief minister twice and was also a deputy prime minister.
BJP MLA Shashi Ranjan Parmar had also burst into tears after his name had not featured on the list.
Voting will take place in all 90 seats in Haryana on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8.
