Mr Joon said he had been cheated by the Congress leadership.
Chandigarh:
The rebellion and discontent faced by the BJP after it released its list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls have now come to haunt the Congress, with a senior leader resigning and announcing that he will contest as an Independent a day after the party unveiled its first list. Another leader has also threatened to do so and said he will take a decision on Sunday.
The Congress’ first list of 32 names included former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, new entrant Vinesh Phogat from Julana and state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. Sitting MLA Rajinder Singh Joon was renominated from Bahadurgarh, prompting a rerun of a rebellion that the constituency had seen in the last Assembly elections as well.
Senior leader Rajesh Joon met his supporters on Saturday and announced that he had resigned from all posts in the Congress and would be contesting from the seat as an Independent.
“The Congress leadership cheated me. I was promised a ticket but the promise was not kept. I will become an MLA by polling double the number of votes that the Congress candidate gets,” Mr Joon said.
Rajesh Joon and another Congress leader had also rebelled against the party after Rajinder Singh Joon was given the ticket in 2019. They had submitted their nominations from the Bahadurgarh Assembly constituency and had withdrawn them only after Bhupinder Singh Hooda had intervened.
In the Baroda Assembly constituency, Congress leader Kapoor Singh Narwal has said he was promised a ticket by Mr Hooda, but it was given to Induraj Singh Narwal.
“They have cheated the people of the constituency, not me. I will take a call on contesting as an Independent tomorrow.,” Kapoor Singh Narwal said, even as sources close to him indicated he could leave the party.
Buoyed after winning 5 of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress will hope that the discontent in the party does not hurt its chances of dislodging the BJP from a Hindi heartland state it has ruled since 2014. The party’s central leadership has also faced pushback after senior leader Rahul Gandhi pushed for a tie-up with the AAP to avoid the division of votes.
While an in-principle agreement regarding an alliance had been announced on Wednesday, there appears to be a stalemate, with the AAP seeking 10 seats and the Congress willing to give up only five to seven.
BJP’s Troubles
The BJP has also had to face dissent from its leaders after it released its first list of 67 names on Wednesday. Energy Minister Ranjit Chautala and MLA Lakshman Napa had quit the party over the past few days after being denied tickets and former Haryana Minister Bachan Singh Arya joined them on Saturday.
Mr Chautala is the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal Chaudhary, one of Haryana’s tallest leaders, who served as chief minister twice and was also a deputy prime minister.
Former Minister Bachan Singh Arya resigned from the party after he was denied a ticket to contest from the Safidon constituency, where the BJP has decided to field Jannayak Janta Party rebel Ram Kumar Gautam. After the BJP list was released, Mr Arya had posted a couplet on social media which made a reference to injustice.
Voting will take place in all 90 seats in Haryana on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8.
