NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday chaired a meeting of party leaders from Haryana to discuss the strategy for the Assembly election in the state, including a possible change of guard in the state amidst the ongoing infighting among the state leadership.
The two-hour long meeting at Rahul’s residence was attended by senior party leader Ahmed Patel, organisational secretary KC Venugopal, Haryana in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, Haryana unit chief Ashok Tanwar, former chief minister BS Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda, former Union minister Kumari Selja and Capt Ajay Yadav, among others.
The party sources said there was a discussion on Kumari Selja and BS Hooda getting a bigger role in the state. While there has been no decision, Selja could replace Tanwar as state chief while Hooda could get the role of chief of the coordination committee. Elections are scheduled to be held later this year in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
The leaders also brought up the issue of Rahul’s decision to quit as party chief but they were told by him that there should be no discussion on this. He is also scheduled to meet leaders from other election-bound states.
During the meeting, state leaders raised the issue of absence of block and district level units in the state for the last several years, leading to party losing grip on the ground. There was also discussions on the Congress not winning even a single seat in the state in the Lok Sabha elections and even party stalwarts like Hooda lost from Sonepat.