Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar locks horns with AICC over poll panel

On Sunday, Haryana Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad had told reporters in Delhi that the “committee” in question was set up without “any authorisation of the party high command.”

The tussle over the election planning and management committee set up by Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar intensified on Monday after he refused to disband the panel even after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) dubbed it as “unauthorised”.

Congress suffered the worst ever defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, losing all 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana, with Ashok Tanwar as the state unit chief. (HT File)

Not just this, Tanwar decided to call this panel a “group” instead of a “committee” after the AICC pointed out that the state party chief was not authorised to set up any “committee.”

On Sunday, Haryana Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad had told reporters in Delhi that the “committee” in question was set up without “any authorisation of the party high command.”

Azad, a former Union minister, had said constituting committees, such as election and campaign committee, was the prerogative of the AICC and that the state president had no authority. “If any such committee has been set up, it does not have our approval,” Azad said after Tanwar disclosed this contentious move last Friday.

However, even after receiving this sharp rap on the knuckles from the AICC, Tanwar dug in his heels on Monday as he went ahead with the meeting in Delhi as per the schedule with his confidant and panel convener Sudesh Aggarwal, a former national president of Smast Bhartiya Party that merged with the Congress in March this year.

No other member of the committee came for this meeting.

“The meeting took place as scheduled at 5.30 pm and lasted for an hour even though two of us (Tanwar and Aggarwal) attended it. Taking cognizance of Azad’s statement, we have replaced the word ‘committee’ with ‘group’. The AICC had an issue with the ‘committee’. Now, we will refer to this panel a group,” Aggarwal, the convener of this panel, said when contacted over phone.

The defiant Tanwar, who has been refusing to quit as chief of Haryana Congress even as the party under his leadership suffered the worst ever defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, did not answer phone calls despite repeated attempts.

The Congress lost all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and in nine constituencies, the party candidates lost by margins ranging from 1.60 lakh to 6.50 lakh votes . Tanwar himself lost Sirsa by over 3 lakh votes.

Congress sources say by refusing to budge and not accepting AICC’s advise, Tanwar’s move tantamount to locking horns with the party high command.

Aggarwal, however said: “This (calling panel as group) should not be seen as confrontation with the AICC. It should be seen as a support to the AICC as this group will automatically cease to exist once the AICC sets up the committee regarding elections.”

Tanwar had formed this panel comprising former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Kiran Choudhry, All-India Congress Committee (AICC) chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, former Union minister Kumari Selja, former Cabinet minister Capt Ajay Yadav and Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi.

But Tanwar’s unilateral decision to set up this panel was seen in Congress circles as his last desperate bid to stick to the post of state party chief.