Hisar loss: JP flays detractors within Cong

Congress candidate from Hisar Jai Parkash has blamed two Congress MPs, including a union minister, for his humiliating defeat in the just-concluded Lok Sabha bypolls. Aurangzeb Naqshbandi reports.

Congress candidate from Hisar Jai Parkash has blamed two Congress MPs, including a union minister, for his humiliating defeat in the just-concluded Lok Sabha bypolls.

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Jai Parkash has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi complaining that his detractors within the party ensured the loss of his security deposit and the victory of Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi in the high profile by-poll.

By blaming union housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Kumari Selja and Rajya Sabha MP and party general secretary Birendra Singh, Jai Prakash-popularly known as JP-has sought to negate the general perception and also the claim by Team Anna that its "vote against the Congress campaign" had influenced the poll outcome in Hisar.

The emboldened Team Anna later threatened to replice Hisar in Uttar Pradesh, if the Congress was not serious about passing the Jan Lokpal Bill.

But to prove his point, JP gave the examples of Singh's village Dumarkha Kalan and Selja native place Parbhuwala. In Dumarkha Kalan JP got 185 votes as compared to Bishnoi's 927 and in Parbhuwala, his tally stood at 212 as against 1228 votes secured by the HJC chief.

But, Singh had campaigned for JP in many parts of the constituency despite his "endless differences" with him to ensure party's win in the bypoll. "If we lose this poll, it will not only be a loss for Congress, but the entire area," he had said in Jind. Similarly, Selja too had campaigned for JP.

Apart from the Congress president, JP has also written to Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel besides Rahul Gandhi and BK Hariprasad.

The sources said the high command has already asked Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana to submit a report about the party's defeat. "Appropriate action will follow after the report is submitted," a senior functionary said. On Friday, the poll outcome will be discussed in a meeting, in Chandigarh.