Nine Congress ministers bite the dust on saffron Sunday

The Congress’ rout in Haryana after being in the saddle for a decade saw nine ministers in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government biting the dust at the hustings.

As BJP riding on a ‘Modi wave’ stormed to power for the first time on its own since creation of Haryana in 1966, Congress’ tally shrank from 40 in 2009 polls to mere 15, with many of its candidates ending at third and fourth positions.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda won from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency defeating his nearest INLD rival by a margin of over 47,000 votes, though the CM’s victory margin came down by about 25,000 votes since 2009 polls.

Among the losers included irrigation minister and six-time MLA from Rewari, Ajay Singh Yadav, who finished at third spot from his pocketborough.

Urban development minister Savitri Jindal, one of the richest women and mother of former MP Naveen Jindal, also tasted defeat losing from her traditional stronghold Hisar to BJP’s Dr Kamal Gupta.

Food and supplies minister Mahender Pratap Singh lost to Seema Trikha of the BJP from Badhkal constituency.

Health minister Rao Narender Singh finished at third spot from Narnaul seat.

Agriculture minister Paramvir Singh finished fourth from Tohana while transport minister Aftab Ahmed lost to INLD candidate from Nuh constituency.

Cooperation minister Satpal Sangwan finished at fourth position from Dadri constituency.

Labour Minister Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, who contested as Independent, lost to INLD candidate from Faridabad NIT seat.

Sports Minister Sukhbir Kataria, who contested as an Independent candidate, finished at fourth position from Gurgaon.

Among the Haryana ministers who tasted success include industry minister Randeep Singh Surjewala (from Kaithal), excise and taxation minister Kiran Choudhry (from Tosham) and education minister Geeta Bhukkal (from Jhajjar-SC).

Meanwhile, Haryana’s finance minister HS Chatha had opted out of contest this time. However, his son Mandeep Singh Chatha who contested on Congress ticket from Pehowa finished at the third spot.