NEW DELHI: The Congress is united in Haryana and will display this unity when leaders undertake a bus yatra to launch its election campaign there, a top party leader said Monday, denying differences among functionaries over a state committee.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad's remark came days after a coordination committee in Haryana was withdrawn soon after it was made public.
Reportedly, a section in the state unit expressed resentment over inclusion and exclusion of some leaders in the panel. Two days ago, the party had announced the coordination committee for the state and later withdrew it, but there was no major reason, he said.
The committee is likely to meet on Tuesday with former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as its chairman, Azad said. The Congress leader has denied any resentment or differences over the committee's formation.
In its proposed meeting on Tuesday, it would decide the date for the launch of the 'bus yatra' as part of its Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state, Azad said.
Polling in 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held on May 12. The bus yatra would also mark the party's campaign for the assembly elections slated later this year, he 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," Azad said. The Congress did it in Karnataka in 1999-2000 and in Andhra Pradesh in 2003-2004, he said .
"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.
"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," Azad told reporters here. During the yatra, he said, leaders would be laying the foundations of the party's campaign for the assembly elections.
"We have another 6-8 months before the state assembly elections are here and we would try to touch all assembly constituencies during this bus tour," Azad said.
The other members of the panel are PCC President Ashok Tanwar, CLP leader Kiran Chaudhary, former central minister Kumari Selja, AICC communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, he said.
Former ministers Kuldeep Bishnoi, Mahendra Pratap Singh and Ajay Singh Yadav; Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, former MPs Naveen Jindal and Kailasho Saini; former MLA Anil Thakkar; MLA Kuldeep Sharma, Jaiveer Singh Balmiki and Sardar Jaipal Singh Lali are also part of the panel.
"We have tried to bring in a mix of senior leaders and leaders of all communities and tried to accommodate all of them.
"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," Azad said.
The senior Congress leader said the parliamentary elections in Haryana are much later in the sixth phase and a date for the launch of the poll campaign would be decided soon.