Even as a week has passed since the BJP declared the names of eight of its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in the state, the Congress is yet to announce the names of its candidates despite pressure from the party rank and file to make this declaration at the earliest.

Maintaining that names of five candidates were cleared by the high command after a lot of deliberations Thursday, party insiders said it is not clear when the names of these candidates would be announced formally and when the names of candidates for the remaining seats be finalised.

Haryana goes to poll in a single phase on May 12.

State Congress president Ashok Tanwar said all names are under consideration and will be made public once they are finalised. “Wait for two or three days and things will become clear,” he said.

Party insiders said the five candidates — who are most likely to get the tickets and whose names were discussed Thursday — were Ajay Yadav from Gurgaon, Shruti Choudhary from Bhiwani, Kumari Selja from Ambala, Deepinder Hooda from Rohtak and Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa.

Despite Tanwar’s assurance, the delay in announcing the names of candidates in the state is making party workers and even senior leaders jittery, who accepted that they would be at a major disadvantage as the BJP candidates have already started campaigning.

“The confusion has been caused due to internal differences in the state leadership. One of the senior leaders does not want to fight the Lok Sabha polls and wants his wife to be given the ticket from Sonepat. Citing the fact that Deepinder Hooda and Shruti Choudhary are scions of Congress politicians, another leader wants his son to be given a ticket from Hisar,” said a senior leader on condition of anonymity.

Party insiders said unless these differences are resolved, the party’s prospects of winning are going to get hurt. “Party in-charge for Haryana, Ghulam Nabi Azad, is again in Jammu and Kashmir due to polls and another senior leader, Mukul Wasnik, is also busy. I don’t know when the names will be made official,” said another senior leader.

Senior Congress leader and member of Congress Coordination committee, Captain (Retd) Ajay Singh Yadav, when asked about the delay in the announcement of names said whatever the party was doing was part of a well thought out strategy.

“It is a crucial election and the party high command does not want to take hasty decisions. The party cadre is ready for the fight and announcement of names will happen in a day or two,” he said.

First Published: Apr 13, 2019 01:14 IST