Ashok Tanwar boycotts Haryana Cong meet; holds separate meeting

Amid ongoing rift with the party cadres, former chief of Haryana Congress Ashok Tanwar on Thursday boycotted the party election committee meeting held at Punjab Bhawan and conducted another meeting at the same time at the Constitution Club here.

The Haryana Congress meeting was conducted to decide on candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections. Tanwar, who was replaced by Kumari Selja as state party chief recently, has not attended any of the meetings held so far by the Haryana Congrees.

Amid ongoing rift with the party cadres, former chief of Haryana Congress Ashok Tanwar on Thursday boycotted the party election committee meeting held at Punjab Bhawan and conducted another meeting at the same time at the Constitution Club here.

Speaking to ANI, Tanwar maintained that he is not attending any meeting as many in the committee are not happy with him and they have been against him for the past five years. "They (Congress leaders) should not do what they use to do before. They do not like my face, I have no problem. Even if they have a problem with me, I do not want to bother them," he said.

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Elaborating about the enmity with Congress leaders, he said, "On August 18 in Rohtak, everything was announced including the Deputy Chief Minister candidate and Chief Minister cabinet. I do not want to waste my time at a place which has no work for me. I worked with Congress for five years and now let them work for 15 days," an upset Tanwar added.

In the Haryana election committee meeting, senior Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala, Kiren Chaudhary and Captain Ajay Yadav were present.

Asked about Ashok Tanwar's absence, Selja said, "Presently we are focusing on elections." Emphasizing on Congress' planning of Assembly elections in the state, she said: "There will be a meeting of Central Election Committee (CEC) on September 30, in which the first list of Haryana will be announced. All sitting MLAs will get the tickets. The ticket will be announced based on the person's eligibility and ground consideration."

The infighting among the leaders is not a good sign for the Congress, which is battling for its survival in Haryana after the party failed to win any of the 10 Lok Sabha seats earlier this year.