Seeking to scotch speculations about a rift in its State unit, the Congress on Monday said it is united in Haryana and will display this unity when leaders undertake a bus yatra to launch its election campaign there. Itdenied differences among functionaries over a state coordination committee meeting being called off after being announced.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad's remark came days after a coordination committee in Haryana was withdrawn soon after it was made public.
Reportedly, a section in the state unit expressed resentment over inclusion and exclusion of some leaders in the panel. Two days ago, the party had announced the coordination committee for the State and later withdrew it, but there was no major reason, he said.
The committee is likely to meet on Tuesday with former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as its chairman, Azad said.
The Congress leader has denied any resentment or differences over the committee's formation.
In its proposed meeting on Tuesday, it would decide the date for the launch of the “bus yatra” as part of its Lok Sabha poll campaign in the State, Azad said.
Polling in 10 Lok Sabha seats in the State will be held on May 12.
The bus yatra would also mark the party’s campaign for the assembly elections slated later this year, he said. “We will now follow the Andhra-Karnataka model, which I had started about two decades back, to put all the leaders in one bus and take them around,” Azad said.
The Congress did it in Karnataka in 1999-2000 and in Andhra Pradesh in 2003-2004, he said .
“They are different before entering the bus, but when they come out of the bus after a few weeks, they are one. Twenty leaders become one. When they speak from one stage, when they eat from the same plate, they become one. So, we are working out this plan for a bus tour,” Azad told reporters here. During the yatra, he said, leaders would be laying the foundations of the party's campaign for the Assembly elections.