‘High command to decide who will lead Congress in MC polls’

A day after the loyalists of former Union minister Manish Tewari announced that the next Chandigarh municipal elections would be contested under his leadership, Harish Chaudhary, secretary, All India Congress Committee, and incharge of Chandigarh, said it was the Congress party’s prerogative to decide who should be given the charge to lead the polls.

A day after the loyalists of former Union minister Manish Tewari announced that the next Chandigarh municipal elections would be contested under his leadership, Harish Chaudhary, secretary, All India Congress Committee, and incharge of Chandigarh, said it was the Congress party’s prerogative to decide who should be given the charge to lead the polls.

Tewari during a public meeting at Maloya on Sunday had declared that the upcoming MC polls in 2017 would be held under his leadership. Congress leaders BB Bahl, former city chief, and Ravinder Singh Pali, former mayor, were also present at the meet.

Speaking to HT, Harish Harish Chaudhary, secretary, All India Congress Committee Chaudhary said, “It may be Tewari’s personal opinion, but in Congress, it is high command that decides under whose leadership the elections will be held. It can’t be declared like this.”

On other hand, former BB Bahl said Tewari would play a major role in candidates’ selection in the upcoming MC elections. On asking about the role of Congress chief Pardeep Chhabra and former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, he said, “Chhabra will be a part of the selection committee. As far as Bansal’s role is concerned, we’ll have to wait as it will be revealed at the right time.”

A Congress leader close to Tewari said he would like to lay the ground for the next Lok Sabha elections. “Several local leaders have met Tewari, and want him to contest from the city,”he added.

Read: Groupism in Cong comes to fore at Manish Tewari’s Maloya meeting