Farmers Movement Archive

Congress leaders hit campaign trail for Ellenabad bypolls

Haryana Congress leaders hit the campaign trail in favour of party nominee Pawan Beniwal for the Ellenabad bypolls on Wednesday.Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state Congress chief Kumari Selja, party’s state affairs in-charge Vivek Bansal and Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry visited many villages seeking votes for Beniwal, who is pitted against INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala and BJP’s Gobind Kanda.Former Congress legislature party leader and Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry slammed the state government over inflation, unemployment, rise in crime and farmers’ issues.“Farmers are lining up every day since early morning to get DAP amid mustard cultivation. The state and Union governments have failed on all fronts. We are hoping that Congress’ Beniwal will defeat his opponents,” she added.Hooda said Abhay had resigned to get political mileage and everyone knows that INLD has always helped the BJP.“We had brought a ‘no-confidence’ motion against the BJP-JJP government in the Haryana assembly. Instead of standing against the coalition government, Chautala resigned to help them .The Haryana government has failed to procure bajra and paddy and farmers are paying huge prices for their policies,” he said.“The Congress has been fighting for the common man. The BJP government has failed to end the deadlock with the protesting farmers over the three farm laws,” he added.Selja leads the campaignSelja, who is leading Congress’s campaign in Ellenabad, slammed the BJP-JJP government over Centre’s three farm laws, paper leak issue and procurement issues.“People of Haryana are unsatisfied with the rule of the current government. They want to get rid of the government which has been crushing the voice of farmers and labourers. They are further annoyed over cases of paper leak. INLD’s lone MLA Chautala had resigned to get political benefit but is struggling in the bypolls,” she added.As per experts, the Ellenabad election is crucial for Selja as this constituency comes under Sirsa parliamentary seat and she got elected twice from here.Her father Chaudhary Dalbir Singh also represented the parliamentary seat and Selja is making efforts to regain her grounds in Sirsa.“There was a huge role of Selja behind Beniwal’s entry into the Congress, besides finalising his name as party nominee for the Ellenabad bypolls. After former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar quit the party, Selja has once again made attempts to make inroads to Sirsa constituency,” said Anant Ram, a retired political science professor of the Bhiwani government college.“Most leaders of Sirsa parliamentary seat joined the Congress in the presence of Selja in the last two years, which underlines her importance in district. The result of the bypolls are crucial for Selja and Beniwal as former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had showed his strength by ensuring the win of Indu Raj Narwal in the Baroda bypolls which were held last year,” the retired professor added.

Hindustan Times

21-10-2021

Chandigarh