Amid the ongoing feud between factions owing allegiance to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar over alleged “irregularities” in the organisational election process, the party high command has constituted a committee of Members of Parliament to resolve the issue.
Sources said a committee including Congress MP Kantilal Bhuria and Rajya Sabha MPs namely Pradeep Tamta and Parvez Hashmi has been constituted to look into the grievances of party leaders from Haryana.
While three members have been confirmed, one more member is likely to be included in the committee, which would visit Chandigarh on August 19 to meet the leaders of Haryana Congress in connection with State organisational elections, said sources.
The party leaders owing allegiance to two-time former Chief Minister Hooda have alleged “disappearance of membership forms submitted by them and bogus membership” during the ongoing organisational election process. The faction headed by Hooda has also blamed Ashok Tanwar for irregularities in the poll process.
Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry had earlier visited Chandigarh on August 1 in connection with the State organisational elections and took feedback from the district election officers (DEOs). He was deputed by the central party leadership to look into the allegations levelled by Congress leaders related to members’ list prepared for party’s internal elections.
The party MlAs including Kuldeep Sharma, Karan Dalal, Geeta Bhukkal, Shakuntala Khatak among others had also met Mistry in New Delhi recently to brought to his notice the issue of tampering with members’ list. These leaders have alleged that the members’ list given by them have not been included and accused Ashok Tanwar of making bogus membership forms.
During Mistry’s meeting with party leaders at Chandigarh, Hooda loyalists and supporters of Tanwar had heated exchanges even as Hooda had stayed away from that meeting.
Earlier in June also, infighting in the state Congress had came to the fore with both factions making allegations and counter-allegations over voters’ list during a meeting held under Pradeep Jain, a former Union minister and pradesh returning officer for the organisational poll.
Ashok Tanwar while talking to The Pioneer rubbished the allegations leveled by Hooda loyalists and said that some party leaders are making false allegations and excuses ahead of state organisational elections.
Confirming that a committee of MPs has been constituted by the Congress high command to look into the grievances of some party leaders related to organisational elections, Tanwar said that 3-4 MPs would visit Chandigarh on August 19 to meet the party members in this regard.
Tanwar said that complete transparency has been observed in the organisational poll process and the membership drive is computerized. No tampering is being done with the membership list, he added.
Notably, the feud between Hooda and Tanwar had escalated after the party workers clash in New Delhi last year where Tanwar had sustained injuries and blamed the former Chief Minister for planning the attack.
With factional feud between Hooda and Tanwar continuing to simmer even after the directives from party high command to stay united, both the leaders have been holding “separate” party functions and agitations to raise various issues in Haryana. The loyalists of Hooda have also been demanding ouster of party State chief Tanwar.