Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: The Congress is expected to announce its first list of candidates for the Haryana elections—scheduled to be held on October 21—on Wednesday night after the screening committee, headed by Madhusudan Mistry, will meet for one last time today evening.
Highly-placed Congress sources made light of an ongoing protest by former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and his supporters over non allocation of tickets to some of his supporters and said Tanwar never attended the state election committee meeting. They alleged that Tanwar gave his list of preferred candidates only one day ahead of the central poll committee meeting chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi.
“I also would like to know to whom did Ashok Tanwar give his so called list of 15 candidates? He never became part of the candidate screening process, never met state Chief or CLP leader, never attended the Pradesh election committee meet and circulated his list among some leaders a day prior to the CEC meeting. That’s not how it works,” a top AICC source said adding that the first list would be finalised in the evening.
Tanwar and his sympathisers are protesting outside AICC office alleging denial of tickets to “deserving people”.
Sources also said former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda was likely to contest though there was initially a debate on whether Hooda or his son Deepender should be the one contesting elections .
“Now that a decision has been taken to repeat sitting MLAs, senior Hooda is likely to be fielded,” a source said.
From Sonepat the Congress is likely to field Surendra Panwar on the recommendation of BS Hooda.
Normal Singh who had contested from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat is seeking a ticket from Ambala city for his daughter but the Haryaunit president Selja is not in agreement.
A debate is also going on over the candidature of Ranjit Singh Chautala, the brother of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala.
Kuldeep Bishnoi and his wife Renuka, former CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and sitting Kaithal MLA Randeep Surjewala are all expected to contest.
It remains to be seen if the Congress bends the ‘one family one candidate’ rule for the Hoodas in Haryana like it had in Himachal Pradesh by fielding both ex CM Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh.
Both had won their assembly seats unlike Hooda senior and his son who had contested and lost the recent parliamentary polls in Haryana.
