New Delhi, Oct 9, 2024
Defeated Congress candidates in Haryana Assembly elections have attributed their losses to internal party infighting, with some specifically blaming the state leadership for their defeats.
In Ambala Cantt, Congress candidate Parvinder Pal Pari openly accused Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deepender Singh Hooda of conspiring against him by supporting an Independent candidate, leading to his loss.
Pari, who is aligned with the Selja faction of the party, described the result as not a defeat of the Congress, but rather of the “B-D gang” (Bhupinder-Deepender), alleging their vested interest in promoting their own agenda over party unity.
“This is not a defeat of the Congress, but of the Bhupinder-Deepender (B-D) faction. It’s a loss for someone blinded by his infatuation with his son. In this election, the people clearly wanted Congress. There’s a saying — he who digs a pit for others often falls into it. The man who aspired to be Chief Minister has now fallen into his own trap,” Pari told IANS.
Pari argued that this power struggle within the Congress, particularly the sidelining of Selja, was a strategic blunder.
According to him, if ticket distribution had been handled with broader consultation, the party’s prospects could have been significantly better.
He further cited an example of favouritism within the party, where a particular family received repeated opportunities despite multiple electoral failures.
In Ambala Cantt, BJP’s Anil Vij secured victory by over 7,000 votes, with Independent candidate Chitra Sarwara coming in second, pushing Pari to third place with 14,469 votes.
Similarly, Shamsher Singh Gogi, another Congress candidate who lost the Assandh Assembly constituency to BJP’s Yoginder Singh Rana by just 2,300 votes, also attributed his defeat to infighting.
He stopped short of naming individuals but hinted that the divisions within the party leadership were largely responsible for the loss.
He told IANS, “You’re all aware of the infighting within Congress, but it’s not appropriate to name names at this moment. Just wait a few days — everything will come to light. The ones destroying the party are the same people who are running it.”
Gogi, however, acknowledged polarisation as also a contributing factor but emphasised that the internal discord within the party played a very important role in the defeat.
This highlights deep factionalism and leadership conflicts within the Haryana Congress, clearly suggesting that infighting and the prioritisation of personal political ambitions over party success may have contributed significantly to the party’s poor electoral performance in this election.(Agency)
