New Delhi: Allegations of bribery in ticket distribution came to haunt the Congress once again Wednesday when deposed Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Tanwar protested outside Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence along with his supporters.
Hitting out at the senior leadership for “unfair” ticket distribution, Tanwar said, “The ticket for Sohna assembly seat was sold for Rs 5 crore. We will fix the situation. If ticket distribution has been unfair, how will those who have been chosen win?”
Tanwar, who was recently replaced by Kumari Selja after helming the state unit for five years, could be playing with fire though.
Margaret Alva, former AICC general secretary and a Sonia Gandhi confidante, had in 2008 gone public alleging sale of party tickets after her son was refused one for the Karnataka elections. She was immediately asked to resign from all party posts, including the Congress’ top decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
In Tanwar’s case, the allegations have come even before the announcement of Congress candidates for the upcoming Haryana assembly elections.
“For five years I gave my blood and sweat to the Congress. The leadership in Haryana has been destroyed. We’ve been dedicated to the party. Why give tickets to those who’ve recently joined the party but had criticised it earlier?” he asked.
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The Tanwar-Hooda war
A Dalit leader, Tanwar grew close to Rahul Gandhi during his term as a president of the Indian Youth Congress of which the latter was an in-charge. But Tanwar had been at loggerheads with former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda who has the support of most party workers and legislators.
Hooda has the party unit in his grip even as Tanwar, in his capacity as the state Congress chief, struggled to make himself count. What worked against Tanwar was the way Congress got decimated in one election after the other, as non-Jat votes kept shifting away from the party.
This isn’t the first time that allegations about “Hooda’s camp” influencing the Congress’ decision have surfaced.
A Haryana Congress leader had last week told ThePrint that one of the vice-chairpersons of the state SC cell — along with 20 other party workers — visited Haryana general secretary in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad’s house. The members had alleged that the Hooda camp was influencing the distribution of tickets.
“To help your good friend Hooda, you have destroyed the party in the state,” the SC cell vice-chairperson had told Azad who denied the charges.
Tanwar has been on the path of rebellion ever since he was dismissed as the Haryana unit chief. Despite being included in the electoral decision-making committees, he had kept his distance from the party and skipped most meetings.
Also read: Hooda and Tanwar are giving Rahul Gandhi a Haryana headache