Sulking Haryana Finance Minister targets Hooda

Bickerings in ruling Congress in Haryana came to the fore with Finance Minister Birender Singh, who was not nominated for Sonepat Lok Sabha seat, attacking Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda accusing him of being responsible for denial of ticket to him.

With about three weeks to go for Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, bickerings in ruling Congress in Haryana came to the fore with senior party leader and Finance Minister Birender Singh, who was not nominated for Sonepat Lok Sabha seat, attacking Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda accusing him of being responsible for denial of ticket to him.

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The party nominated Jitender Malik, considered a Hooda loyalist, for Sonepat.

"Hooda has made sure that nobody encroaches his fiefdom as he could not tolerate that I should contest from the Jat hinterland (Sonepat). He has this misconception that if I become MP from there, I will share popular sentiment of the people and galvanise them," Birender Singh, MLA from Uchana, told PTI on phone from Delhi.

Hooda, however, denied having played any role in giving nomination to Malik saying it was decided by Congress' central election committee.

The development came two days after another cabinet colleague of Hooda AC Chaudhry had sent his resignation to Sonia Gandhi for not giving any ticket to a member of Punjabi community.

Birender said he had given his unstinted cooperation to Hooda ever since the formation of Congress government in Haryana in March 2005 "but it seems that he always wants to destabilise me".