Ahead of Assembly polls in Haryana, the Congress has named Kumari Selja as Haryana unit chief while former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was appointed Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader. The announcements were made by former Union Minister and Haryana Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and party General Secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal.
Hooda will also be the chairman of the state election management committee, Congress general secretary in-charge Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad announced.
Selja, a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Haryana, replaces Ashok Tanwar as the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief.
The move comes after days of deliberations by party president Sonia Gandhi and is seen as an attempt to pacify different factions ahead of the elections, likely to take place next month.
"Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has approved the appointment of Kumari Selja as Haryana Congress chief," Azad said while addressing the media.
To a question over Hooda using pressure tactics to gain control in the party, Azad said, "Whatever done in the past is past. This is the future and the new team will ensure to strengthen the Congress in elections."
The 57-year-old Congress leader was elected Lok Sabha MP from Sirsa in 1991 and then elected for two terms in 2004 and 2009 from Ambala, a reserved constituency.
In the 2014 assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 47 seats and went on to form its government. The Congress could only win 15 seats. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had 19 legislators. Since then, the INLD has split into two factions.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Kumari Selja is a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Haryana.
- Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was appointed Congress Legislative Party leader.
- The move comes after days of deliberations by party president Sonia Gandhi.
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