With 72 of 89 seats for loyalists, Hooda imprint on Congress list

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Bhupinder Hooda cornered an overwhelming share out of the 89 Congress candidates for the Haryana elections which, coming after 9 of the 10 nominees decided by him for the Lok Sabha polls, has snuffed the life out of the rival faction in the state organisation.

Early on, Congress decided against fielding MPs, even as the stalemate on key seats and fears of rebellion pushed the party to delay the announcement of nearly half the names, eventually announced on the eve of the Thursday deadline. But many Hooda loyalists are reported to have forced the party's hand with aggressive posturing like rebel candidatures and even resignation threats.

Hisar parliamentarian Jai Prakash's son Vikash Saharan filed his nomination on Wednesday, without the announcement of his name. Viewed as a veiled threat, the party eventually announced Vikash as the nominee from Kalayat a day later. The other aspirant Shweta Dhull bitterly posted on X, "A king's son becomes the king, that's the truth."

On the last day, Pooja Chaudhry, wife of Ambala MP Varun Chaudhry, got the Congress nomination from Mulana reserved constituency. Left out in the process, sources said, was Karamvir Singh Baudh, chairman of SC/ST/OBC confederation of employees. Baudh was appointed the coordinator for Dalit outreach for elections by AICC general secretary Deepak Babaria.

Meanwhile, Chitra Sarwara who did not get the nod from Ambala Cantt because her father is contesting from the neighbouring turf, has filed the papers as independent. The family is a Hooda loyalist. As per calculations, Hooda managed to get around 72 seats for his loyalists, while Sirsa MP Kumari Selja got nine tickets.

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