Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will meet newly appointed State Congress president, Ashok Tanwar on Wednesday to finalise the list of candidates to be presented before the Central Election Committee of the Congress on February 13 in New Delhi.
Tanwar, also known as the ‘Rahul Man’ in State Congress has, however, not taken charge of the office of the president formally, but still the Haryana Chief Minister wants to discuss the list with him during their first meeting.
Haryana Pradesh Election Committee on January 31 has received 137 applications from different constituencies, including six sitting MPs, laying claim over tickets, in a meeting which was held under the chairmanship of AICC general secretary in-charge of the State Shakeel Ahmed.
In the meeting, Ahmed said that all the sitting MPs will be given priority, before the final list is sent. According to sources, State Congress has succeeded to convince, sitting MP Jatinder Malik from Sonipat to contest from his seat for the parliamentary elections. Malik earlier had refused to contest the election and demanded a Rajya Sabha seat.
The Congress party is currently more concerned about finalising the name of their probable candidates from Gurgaon, Hisar, and Ambala as the sitting MP from Gurgaon, Rao Inderjit Singh has turned his back on the party.
It is being speculated that three candidates are in the race for laying claim over this seat which includes, Hooda loyalist, Aftab Ahmed, Rao Dan Singh and Chiranjeev Rao, son of current Power Minister Captain Ajay Yadav. These three candidates are being seen as the Congress’ last resort to protect its supremacy in the Ahirwal region.
Congress’ three-time MP from Hisar, Jai Prakash has refused to contest, leaving Sampat Singh, former INlD MlA and now a congress MlA from Nuh and Chhater Pal Singh as lead contestants along with 18 more candidates for this constituency.
On the other hand, Ambala which had been vacated, after selection of its sitting MP and former Union Minister Kumari Selja in the Rajya Sabha has reached a stalemate as Hooda loyalist Ram Prakash Kahngwal has staked his claim along with 16 other names, which might irk Selja who is eyeing to maintain her supremacy in the region.
Sources within the Congress party said that Selja will support her loyalist Ishwer Singh, a former Rajya Sabha MP or field in Punia, who has expressed his desire to contest an election from this constituency. However, Hooda may bat for his loyalist, Phool Chand Mullana, former president of State Congress for this seat.