Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Haryana on March 29 to join party’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ to give much-needed impetus to Congressmen, as the state party unit is battling factionalism and infighting.
Looking to strengthen party’s position in ensuing Lok Sabha polls, the senior party leaders of Haryana Congress had on Tuesday embarked on a six-day ‘Parivartan Yatra’ in a specially designed bus to firm up internal unity and showcase it across the state.
The show of unity, designed to achieve two key tasks including ending factionalism in the party and ensuring maximum connectivity with the people across Haryana ahead of the polling day on May12, will now be joined by party president Rahul Gandhi.
The Gandhi scion will hold a roadshow on March 29 in Karnal, which is represented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal in the State Assembly. The very idea of holding the roadshow in CM’s home turf Karnal is to challenge the ruling BJP head-on.
As part of energizing Congress workers in the state where assembly elections are also scheduled to be held later this year, Rahul will address public meetings at Jagadhri (Anaj Mandi) in Yamunanagar, Ladwa (Anaj Mandi) in Kurukshetra, Karnal (ITI chowk). His roadshow will begin from Jagadhri and conclude at Karnal on Friday.
This will be Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Haryana after taking over as the president of the Congress in December 2017.
His visit assumes significance as he will be reaching out to the voters of three Lok Sabha seats including Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal, which was won by BJP in the 2014 general elections.
Congress’ main rival—BJP—will field new faces from Kurukshetra and Karnal this time while Ambala BJP MP Rattan Lal Kataria is likely to get party’s ticket again.
In Congress, two-time former MP Naveen Jindal is frontrunner for a party’s ticket from Kurkshetra, Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja from Ambala while former Speaker and Ganaur MLA Kuldeep Sharma has sought a ticket for his son from Karnal seat.
The voting to 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held in a single phase on May 12.
The Chief Minister Manohar Lal has already been holding roadshows in various parts of Haryana to connect with the voters.
“Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will address public meetings and hold roadshow from Jagadhri to Karnal during his one day visit to Haryana on March 29, the fourth day of ongoing ‘Parivartan Yatra’ of Haryana Congress,” said state Congress secretary Pankaj Punia, while talking to The Pioneer.
On the fourth day of ‘Parivartan Yatra’, the night halt is scheduled at Karnal, he said. The yatra which began on March 26 from Gurugram will conclude at Faridabad on March 31. To end the factionalism in Haryana Congress unit, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is the Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana, had recently given a strong message to senior party leaders to fight a united war to defeat the BJP and that tickets will be refused to those who do not toe the party line.
It is no secret that state party president Ashok Tanwar, a dalit leader, and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, an upper caste Jat, do not see eye to eye on most matters and have been at loggerheads since 2014 polls.
However, both the leaders seem to have set aside their differences, at least for now and were seen sharing a seat during Congress ‘Parivartan Yatra’ on the first day.
Apart from the two factions headed by Tanwar and Hooda in Haryana Congress unit, senior party leaders including Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Kiran Choudhry also head other factions within the party.
While Congress legislature party leader Kiran Choudhry, Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, Rajya Sabha MP Selja Kumari, former minister Ajay Yadav, former Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma were among the leaders who are on board during the bus yatra, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Randeep Surjewala have stayed away from the party’s yatra.
Notably, the Congress could retain only one Lok Sabha seat out of 10 in Lok Sabha polls 2014. In assembly polls held later that year, the party was reduced to 15 seats only.
The number of Congress MLAs had later increased to 17 after Kuldeep Bishnoi’s HJC’s merger in the party in 2016.