Haryana: Karnal sarpanches lend support to Congress candidate Divyanshu

“Out of 573 sarpanches from both the districts, 525 were present and all have decided to ensure victory of Divyanshu, due to their anger against former chief minister and his BJP rival Manohar Lal Khattar,” Isham Singh, state general secretary, the Haryana Sarpanch Association, said

In a huge setback to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), scores of sarpanches from Karnal Lok Sabha constituency on Monday supported Congress’ candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja in the presence of party’s Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda.

Speaking to the media, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda said sarpanches from all over the state were insulted by the state government and he was thankful to them for announcing support to his party. (Getty image)

The event organised at Anmol Gardens witnessed the attendance of at least 525 sarpanches from Karnal and Panipat districts under the constituency, Isham Singh, state general secretary, the Haryana Sarpanch Association, said.

“Out of 573 sarpanches from both the districts, 525 were present and all have decided to ensure victory of Divyanshu, due to their anger against former chief minister and his BJP rival Manohar Lal Khattar,” Singh said.

Speaking to the media, Hooda said sarpanches from all over the state were insulted by the state government and he was thankful to them for announcing support to his party.

“They had to face lathi charge and slurs, raising questions on their integrity, months after they were elected by their voters. This is the perfect example of the government’s arrogance. They were deprived of their right, which goes against our democratic structure. Once elected, we will ensure their rights under the Panchayati Raj system are restored,” he added.

Former MLAs Sumita Singh and Narender Sangwan, Karnal bypoll candidate Tarlochan Singh and others were present.

Addressing the gathering, Divyanshu said after his victory, he will try to fulfil the expectations, with which the sarpanch body has decided to support him.

The official ceremony comes nearly 40 days after at least 150 sarapanchs, including the office-bearers of the body, had gathered at a state-level meeting at Jamba village in Nilokheri sub-division of Karnal and resolved to protest and campaign against the ruling BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections and vote for a “strong” Opposition nominee.

The association is an influential body that led the months-long protests against the state government in 2023 against the introduction of e-tendering for development works in rural areas and the right to recall acts in panchayats.

On March 2 last year, Haryana Police lathi charged sarpanches, who had gathered in Chandigarh-Panchkula to protest the e-tender policy, as they tried to break barricades and march towards former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s official residence.

Ex-deputy mayor Wadhwa joins Congress

Almost a month after resigning from the primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former deputy mayor Manoj Wadhwa on Monday joined the Congress in Karnal.

Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, former minister Ashok Arora, former MLAs Sumita Singh and Narender Sangwan welcomed Wadhwa to the party at an event at his residence.

Deepender said his joining will ensure more strength for their Lok Sabha nominee Divyanshu Budhiraja.

Last month, Wadhwa submitted his resignation to the chief minister and state party president Nayab Singh Saini and district president Yogendra Rana, citing personal reasons behind the decision.

Since then, Wadhwa claimed that no leader reached out to him and he had to finally join the Congress days ahead of the voting on May 25.

An influential face in the Punjabi community, Wadhwa was elected a councillor in 2013 and has also served as deputy mayor. In the 2014 assembly elections, he contested against the then-chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on an INLD ticket but remained in the third position.

Now, there were speculations that he may contest the Karnal by-election against CM Saini on a Congress ticket, but the party named Tarlochan Singh as their nominee.

Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also carried out searches at two of his locations in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to illegal mining.

He is said to have close links with former Yamunanagar MLA Dilbagh Singh, who was arrested by the ED in January.