Disagreements stall Haryana Congress candidate list, Priyanka gets larger role

The disagreements have prompted Congress chief Mallikarujun Kharge to form a committee of KC Venugopal, Madhusudan Mistry, and Salman Khurshid

Haryana remains the only state where the Congress is yet to name its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls even as the party has held two meetings to discuss its nominees. People aware of the matter said Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala, two key leaders from Haryana, opposed shortlisted candidates Rao Dhan Singh (Bhiwani) and Raj Babbar (Gurugram), who enjoyed former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda’s backing. They argued former Member of Parliament (MP) Shruti Choudhry and Captain Ajay Yadav would be better candidates from Bhiwani and Gurugram.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a rally in Rajasthan’s Jalore. (PTI)

The disagreements over the candidature prompted Congress chief Mallikarujun Kharge to form a committee of KC Venugopal, Madhusudan Mistry, and Salman Khurshid to finalise the candidates at the instance of Sonia Gandhi.

Rumblings in Chandigarh

In Chandigarh, rumblings within the Congress surfaced when Congress candidate Manish Tewari met party workers on Monday. Four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was looking for the Congress ticket from Chandigarh, skipped the event while 60-odd party leaders and workers, including Chandigarh women’s wing chief Deipa Dubey, announced her resignation in an Instagram post. Congress’s Chandigarh unit chief HS Lucky liked the post. Congress’s city unit vice-president Hafiz Anwar Ul Haq also resigned.

For years, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra focused on her brother Rahul Gandhi, and mother Sonia Gandhi’s seats of Amethi and Raebareli and campaigned only in Uttar Pradesh. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress’s general secretary without any specific charge, has emerged as a pan-Indian campaigner—from Rajasthan to Assam and Tripura. In Agartala, she urged Tripura’s people to vote for Congress’s “paanch nyay (five justices)”—jobs, minimum support price for farmers, etc as she held a road show.

AAP names Kejriwal as star campaigner

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday named three imprisoned party leaders—Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain—among its list of 40 “star campaigners” in Gujarat ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. An AAP functionary said the party hopes Kejriwal, Sisodia, and Jain will walk out of jail soon, which is why their names have been included. The list also features Delhi chief minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal.

Slogans anger Mamata

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday hit out at people shouting “chor chor” after pointing towards her car, saying she would have pulled out their tongues if elections were not round the corner. “However, I did not say anything because of the elections,” news agency PTI quoted Banerjee as saying. She labelled the Bharatiya Janata Party an “anti-Bengali party”, and claimed that it was “planning to drive out” tribals, Dalits, and OBCs in the garb” of National Register of Citizens.