Congress flag.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Chandigarh: Hours after releasing its final list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly election, the Congress faced a rebellion on Thursday as some of its leaders decided to enter the poll fray as independents.
Thursday was the last day for filing nominations for the October 5 election.
The senior leaders of the opposition party who have decided to contest the polls as independents include former state minister Sampat Singh from Nalwa and former MLAs Lalit Nagar from Tigaon and Sharda Rathore from Ballabhgarh.
Other aspirants who have entered the contest as independents include Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantonment) and Rohita Rewri (Panipat City).
Former MLA Ram Kishan "Fauji", a ticket aspirant from Bawani Khera, has also filed his nomination as an independent.
After the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress too is facing resentment in Haryana from those who have been denied tickets.
Some of the aspirants broke down after being denied tickets.
A tearful Lalit Nagar said even though he had worked hard to strengthen the Congress in Haryana, he was "stabbed in the back".
Addressing a gathering of his supporters in Faridabad's Tigaon, he said, "I had invited all of you thinking that I will perform a 'havan' and then go to file my nomination as a Congress candidate. But some of our enemies have conspired and attempted to commit my political murder." Lalit Nagar was a ticket hopeful from the Tigaon Assembly segment, but the Congress has fielded a new face, Rohit Nagar, from the seat.
Rathore and Jitender Kumar Bharadwaj also expressed anger over the party's decision not to field them in the election.
Sarwara, daughter of former minister Nirmal Singh, said she finds it difficult to accept that the Congress has not fielded her from Ambala Cantonment, despite "being way ahead in various surveys that the party conducted to select its candidate".
"I was working hard in the constituency and getting good support from people. I do not know why was I ignored," Sarwara said.
Six-time MLA and senior BJP leader Anil Vij is seeking re-election from Ambala Cantonment.
In the last Assembly polls too, Sarwara had contested from Ambala Cantonment as an independent after being denied ticket by the Congress. She had lost the contest to Vij.
Lalit Nagar told his supporters that he was hoping to get a ticket but "some conspirators stabbed me in the back".
On the Congress picking Rohit Nagar to contest from Tigaon, the former MLA said, "Had my party fielded a strong candidate, I would have understood. But such a candidate has been given a ticket who is not even known to the people here." He also sought suggestions from his supporters, who asked him to enter the fray as an independent.
"Now, you will have to fight my election," Lalit Nagar told his supporters.
Rathore, a former MLA and a ticket hopeful from Ballabhgarh, also broke into tears in front of her supporters after she was not picked by the Congress.
Her supporters alleged that she was "betrayed" by the party.
Resentment also came to the fore in the Sohna Assembly segment in Gurugram, where senior party leader Bharadwaj was denied a ticket.
"Sorry friends, today, service, dedication and devotion have lost," Bharadwaj posted in Hindi on a social media platform.
The Congress has announced the candidature of new party joinee Rohtash Khatana, who was associated with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) previously, from Sohna.
The BJP also faced a rebellion on a few seats in Haryana after it denied tickets to some leaders.
The Congress on Thursday announced the names of eight more candidates for the Haryana polls, leaving one seat — Bhiwani — for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as it accounted for all 90 seats in the state.
Talks between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) hit a dead end over the ambitions of the junior allies and the grand old party's assessment of its strength on the ground in Haryana.
The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.