The Congress on Monday claimed that the party unit in Haryana is united and its top leaderships will undertake a bus yatra to launch its election campaign in the State.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana, Ghulam Nabi Azad, made these remarks just two days after the party had done a flip-flop over a coordination committee.
After announcing the coordination committee, to be headed by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the party had withdrawn it, leading to speculation that resentment had forced the party to withdraw the list.
“There was no major reason to withdraw the coordination committee list. We thought since there are many other committees like the manifesto committee, campaign committee, publicity committee also have to be formed, we should announce all of it together,” said Mr. Azad.
Committee meeting
The committee, however, will meet on Tuesday with Mr. Hooda presiding over the meeting. On the agenda is deciding the date for the launch of the ‘bus yatra’ as part of its Lok Sabha poll campaign in the State where polling to the 10 seats will be held on May 12.
The bus yatra would also mark the start of the party’s campaign for the Assembly elections scheduled later this year, Mr. Azad said.
“We will now follow the Andhra-Karnataka model, which I had started about two decades back, to put all the leaders in one bus and take them around,” he said.
The Congress did it in Karnataka in 1999-2000 and in Andhra Pradesh in 2003-2004.
“They are different before entering the bus, but when they come out of the bus after a few weeks, they are one. Twenty leaders become one,” explained Mr. Azad, adding, “When they speak from one stage, when they eat from the same plate, they become one. So, we are working out this plan for a bus tour”.
The Congress in-charge said the party intends to cover all the Assembly seats over the next six to eight months.
Apart from Mr. Hooda, other prominent panel members include Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, legislature party leader Kiran Chaudhary, former Union Minister Kumari Selja and Congress communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, former Minister Kuldeep Bishnoi, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda and former MP Naveen Jindal.
”Hopefully, tomorrow we will have a meeting of the coordination committee and we will discuss the plan of touring the entire State. Of course, I will accompany them. That goes without saying,” Mr. Azad said.