CHANDIGARH: With an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the AICC has set up four key panels in Haryana by accommodating a maximum of former chief minister and leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s loyalists.
This has led to the Hooda group once again prevailing over the SRK group comprising Kumari Selja, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Kiran Choudhry.
Formed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, the 24-member state election committee is headed by Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan, a close confidante of Hooda.
Besides, it has Hooda, Kumari Selja, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kiran Chaudhry, Deepender Singh Hooda, son of Hooda, Raghuvir Singh Kadyan, Aftab Ahmed, Capt Ajay Yadav and Col Rohit Chaudhry, among others as its members.
It has four ex-officio members — the president of Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress, the president of Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress, the president of Haryana NSUI, and the chief organiser of Seva Dal, Haryana.
While the 51-member political affairs committee in the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee is headed by Deepak Babaria, AICC in-charge of the state, who is considered close to Hooda and Udhy Bhan, Hooda, Kumari Selja, Surjewala, Kiran Chaudhry, Deepender Singh Hooda, Kadyan, Ahmed, and Capt Yadav are among the members.
Former minister Geeta Bhukkal heads the 27-member manifesto committee, a Hooda confidant and MLA from Jhajjar and Bharat Bhushan Batra as its convenor.
Hooda to make announcements now
With leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s confidant as its member, the manifesto committee will enable the former CM to make announcements related to the manifesto, which the SRK group generally opposed.