The Hindu : Other States / Haryana News : All is well now in Haryana, say Congress leaders

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Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

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All is well now in Haryana, say Congress leaders

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH, APRIL 20 .With the finalisation of candidates for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana by the Congress, the `infighting' amongst the top leaders, who were exerting pressure including threats to resign to ensure the nomination of their close associates, is expected to subside.

According to senior Congress leaders including the former Chief Minister and president of the Haryana unit of the party, Bhajan Lal, and the former Finance Minister and party general secretary, Mange Ram Gupta, a wider and universal viewpoint has to be adopted. They assert that the party High Command has given the tickets to winning candidates after a proper scrutiny of their prospects. There is no question now of `infighting' marring the prospects of the nominees as there is a perceptible undercurrent in favour of the Congress sweeping Chautala-land.

Insiders say that in case any factional leader tries to take credit for the selection of candidates as having the upper hand over Mr.Bhajan Lal, he may be mistaken as the final approval was given by the AICC supremo, Sonia Gandhi, after thorough deliberations. They add that the party bigwigs would ensure that no factional leaders try to undercut or work against the party candidates. In case this scenario prevails the party may be in a position to win at least four-five seats in the State where it had been badly mauled in the 1999 Parliamentary elections when it had even failed to open its account. It is also being said that the national secretary of the Congress, Selja, shifted her traditional constituency from Sirsa to Ambala out of her own choice and she was getting the support of all party factions.

However, the party may still have to face dissidence in the Faridabad and Karnal constituencies as two prominent Meo leaders, Khurshid Ahmed and Tayyab Hussain, have reportedly resigned from the party in protest against the selection of Avtar Singh Bhadana from Faridabad. There are indications, according to highly-placed sources, that one of these two Meo leaders could even contest from Faridabad on the Haryana Vikas Party ticket. And so far as Karnal is concerned, the fielding of Arvind Sharma has virtually `infuriated' one of the prominent aspirants, Kuldeep Sharma, a son of the veteran former MP, Chiranji Lal Sharma, who has threatened to convene a meeting of his supporters to chalk out his future strategy. Mr.Mange Ram Gupta hoped that the crisis would blow over and both the Meo leaders and Mr.Kuldeep Sharma would exhibit the same resilience as the All-India Youth Congress President, Randeep Singh Surjewala, who has decided to work for the party candidates despite denial of ticket from the Hissar constituency.

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All is well now in Haryana, say Congress leaders