Congress may not project CM face for Haryana polls: Party in-charge for state

Chandigarh: Congress leader Deepak Babaria indicated on Sunday that the party may not project a chief ministerial face for the Haryana Assembly polls slated to be held later this year.

The Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana exuded confidence that his party will win the polls with a big mandate and form its government in the state.

Replying to a question, Babaria hinted that the Congress may not project anyone as its chief ministerial face ahead of the election.

He said this after he was told that during a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) extended state executive at Panchkula on Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the saffron party will contest the Haryana polls alone, under the leadership of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Asked if the Congress will declare its chief ministerial face before the polls like the BJP, Babaria pointed to the party’s tradition of not doing any such thing.

“The Congress party’s 70-year-old tradition is that whoever is elected by the legislature party ... and 99.99 precedence is that it authorises the Congress president...,” he said.

He asserted that finally, the decision will be taken in accordance with the elected legislators’ wish.

At the same time, Babaria also said, “It (chief ministerial face) is a major political decision. A confidentiality issue is also there, we do not want to go into its public debate.”

To another related question, he said there were five contenders for the chief minister’s post in a state election last year but no one was projected as the chief ministerial face and the Congress still came to power in the state with an overwhelming majority.

“In Haryana too, we will come to power with a landslide victory,” the Congress leader asserted. Asked about the ruling BJP often targeting the Haryana Congress over infighting, Babaria said, “The BJP has no narrative. It says we have differences and wants to overplay it through the media.”

He asked whether BJP leader Anil Vij’s outbursts in the past do not reflect infighting in the ruling party.

Babaria was also asked about senior Congress leader Kumari Selja pointing fingers at him for not giving proper feedback to the party high command on most of the tickets allotted to candidates in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress won five of the nine Lok Sabha seats it contested in Haryana, while another INDIA

bloc constituent, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), lost the Kurukshetra seat it fought.