Factionalism in the Haryana Congress came to the fore as Kamal Nath, Congress general secretary in charge of the State, convened the first meeting of the State party executive in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The Congress veteran was welcomed by big hoardings displaying pictures of Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and Congress legislative party leader Kiran Chaudhry while former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was missing from the hoardings displayed at the party office.
The huge hoardings with slogan like ‘Upar Bholenath, Neeche Kamalnath’ were displayed outside the party office by Tanwar supporters to welcome Kamal Nath.
Haryana Congress is at present struggling due to infighting between the factions headed by state Congress chief Tanwar and Hooda. Both the leaders have been at loggerheads for a long time and the bickering had escalated after the Congress was voted out of power in the state in 2014 with Tanwar holding Hooda directly responsible for the party’s drubbing.
All three Congress leaders Tanwar, Hooda and Kiran Chaudhry were present during the meeting. Amid the escalated infighting in the Haryana Congress, Kamal Nath convened the meeting of the state executive committee and asked the state leaders to put a unite face in the state.
Meanwhile, a coordination committee for the faction-ridden Haryana Congress may be formed soon to deal with the situation. The suggestion came up at the first meeting of the state executive since its reconstitution on August 17, 2015.
Talking to the mediapersons after the meeting which lasted for more than two hours, Kamal Nath brushed aside the reports of infighting and called the party state unit a one big family.
He said, “This issue has come up that we need coordination in the party. There is no such situation of tension among state leaders. Everyone wants coordination and the organisation should run accordingly.”
On being asked about the hoardings displayed to welcome him, the Congress senior leader replied, “Main photo ki netagiri nhi karta”.
On a query about Tanwar and Hooda camps not seeing eye-to-eye, Nath said the two leaders met him separately earlier. “I had talked at length to both and none of them raised any criticism about each other,” said the Congress leader.
About the issue of “lack of coordination” raised in the meeting, he said, “This thing of coordination is not just among leaders here in Chandigarh but we are talking about the entire state.” “A coordination committee of five-six people will have to be formed. We will sit and discuss how to take it further,” he said. On being reminded that supporters of Hooda and Tanwar are often seen wearing turbans of different colours at party rallies, Nath replied, “All these are old things.”
When asked if there is a possibility of any change in the state executive, he replied, “Everything is possible.”
Talking about the meeting, he informed that it has been decided that zila and block committees will be formed soon and we will come up with a time-bound programme. We will seek everyone's suggestions and form the committees,” said he adding that they will be set up in the next three-four months. After reviewing various issued related to the state, Kamal Nath also slammed the BJP led Haryana Government for the ongoing police recruitment process where three youth have died due to suspected drug overdose and said that the state youth is forced to go in the wrong direction under the BJP leadership.
lashing out at the BJP Government, he said that the farmers are badly affected under BJP’s rule.
The BJP is busy doing politics through advertisements and acting like an event management company, he alleged.