Former Haryana Finance Minister quits Cong. with veiled atta...

Former Haryana Finance Minister quits Cong. with veiled attack on the Hoodas

Former Haryana Finance Minister and six-time MLA Sampat Singh on Sunday quit Congress saying the party had become the fief of one person and family and the people of Haryana were now disappointed with both its the State and central leadership. In a four-page resignation letter posted on his X account, Mr. Singh pointed out that no accountability was fixed for the party’s consecutive defeats since 2009 and no action has been taken against those responsible for the “ticket theft”, alluding at denial of tickets to deserving candidates. The Congress won 67 seats under the leadership of Bhajan Lal in 2005 and the defeats have continued since then, he said. Mr. Singh had attended the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) rally at Rohtak on September 25 to commemorate the 112th birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal and is now expected to join the party soon. In another post on X on October 1, he had raised question over the appointment of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Congress Legislature Party leader saying “this decision has left the party’s loyal workers disheartened and there is a situation of disbelief among the public”. Commenting on the party’s unexpected defeat in the last Assembly poll in October, Mr. Singh in his resignation letter said Dalit voters overwhelmingly supported the party in the Lok Sabha poll earlier but the State leadership, driven by arrogance and family interests, marginalised the party’s SC leader Kumari Selja. “Casteist remarks and offensive videos were circulated against her, and her supporters were denied tickets. As a result, the Dalit community boycotted the Congress,” read the letter. Mr. Singh alleged that the party ignored the winning candidates for the Assembly poll and gave tickets to those with “money power”. Those close to the State leadership contested as “Independents” to harm the party, he added. Saying several prominent leaders – Bhajan Lal, Rao Inderjit Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Ashok Tanwar, and Dharambir Singh – had quit Congress over the past few years in a warning to the party, Mr. Singh, without naming the Hoodas, said a national party was reduced to be a family undertaking when the son of a prominent leader was sent to Rajya Sabha in 2020 instead of a deserving member of the Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes. The former Leader of the Opposition also hinted at a conspiracy behind the defeat of eminent lawyer R.K. Anand in the Rajya Sabha poll in Haryana in 2016 despite his name having been approved by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and the support of 37 MLAs of the Congress and INLD. Mr. Singh alleged that senior leaders continued to be insulted in the party even as the central leadership remained silent. “Congress has now become the fiefdom of one person and one family, where loyalty is rewarded with servitude and dissent is punished with expulsion,” he said. The resignation came hours after the first meeting of the party’s Disciplinary Action Committee on Sunday warning leaders to not express their grievances on public platforms and instead discuss them with the party leadership.

In a four-page resignation letter posted on his X account, Mr. Singh pointed out that no accountability was fixed for the party’s consecutive defeats since 2009 and no action has been taken against those responsible for the “ticket theft”, alluding at denial of tickets to deserving candidates. The Congress won 67 seats under the leadership of Bhajan Lal in 2005 and the defeats have continued since then, he said.

Mr. Singh had attended the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) rally at Rohtak on September 25 to commemorate the 112th birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal and is now expected to join the party soon. In another post on X on October 1, he had raised question over the appointment of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Congress Legislature Party leader saying “this decision has left the party’s loyal workers disheartened and there is a situation of disbelief among the public”.

Commenting on the party’s unexpected defeat in the last Assembly poll in October, Mr. Singh in his resignation letter said Dalit voters overwhelmingly supported the party in the Lok Sabha poll earlier but the State leadership, driven by arrogance and family interests, marginalised the party’s SC leader Kumari Selja. “Casteist remarks and offensive videos were circulated against her, and her supporters were denied tickets. As a result, the Dalit community boycotted the Congress,” read the letter.

Mr. Singh alleged that the party ignored the winning candidates for the Assembly poll and gave tickets to those with “money power”. Those close to the State leadership contested as “Independents” to harm the party, he added.

Saying several prominent leaders – Bhajan Lal, Rao Inderjit Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Ashok Tanwar, and Dharambir Singh – had quit Congress over the past few years in a warning to the party, Mr. Singh, without naming the Hoodas, said a national party was reduced to be a family undertaking when the son of a prominent leader was sent to Rajya Sabha in 2020 instead of a deserving member of the Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes.

The former Leader of the Opposition also hinted at a conspiracy behind the defeat of eminent lawyer R.K. Anand in the Rajya Sabha poll in Haryana in 2016 despite his name having been approved by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and the support of 37 MLAs of the Congress and INLD.

Mr. Singh alleged that senior leaders continued to be insulted in the party even as the central leadership remained silent. “Congress has now become the fiefdom of one person and one family, where loyalty is rewarded with servitude and dissent is punished with expulsion,” he said.

The resignation came hours after the first meeting of the party’s Disciplinary Action Committee on Sunday warning leaders to not express their grievances on public platforms and instead discuss them with the party leadership.