New Delhi: A dagger has been drawn in the Haryana Congress over the defeat of party candidate Ajay Maken to media businessman Karthikeya Sharma in the Rajya Sabha elections last month. While Maken accused senior Congress leader and Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhary of casting illegal votes, which contributed to his defeat. Shot back saying Maken had lost several elections and was “disappointed”.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also been embroiled in controversies. talking to journalists Tuesday, He jumped to the rescue of Maken.
Maken said that Kiran Choudhary had marked it instead of writing ‘1’ against the preference. It was ballot number 26, which had a tick mark on it and was later declared invalid. After watching Maken’s video (to indicate Chowdhary) reached his conclusion [the person] who reached number 26,” he said, adding that it was the duty of the Congress high command to Take action In case of invalid vote.
Hooda Chowdhury, a long-time veteran criticAnd a former minister in the Haryana government dismissed Maken’s allegations as “baseless” and told ThePrint that he was part of a “conspiracy” against him.
“It seems he is disappointed about it. I don’t need his certificate to prove my loyalty to the Congress. Sonia Gandhi, the leader of my party, knows who I am and what I stand for. I have never Why would I do something against the Congress? The loss of the party is my loss,” she told ThePrint on Tuesday.
Maken, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, Lost On June 11, Karthikeya Sharma, an independent candidate supported by the BJP-JJP alliance. The Congress has 31 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, which would have been enough to push Maken to the last line.
However, things did not go according to plan – while MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi cross votingOne vote was declared invalid.
The Congress was still hoping to win with 30 votes, senior party leaders told ThePrint on Tuesday, but the invalid vote came as a major setback.
Since then there has been a section of leaders in the Haryana Congress blaming Choudhary for the rejected vote
The loss came as an embarrassment for Hooda as well – it came less than two months after Hooda’s aide Uday Bhan. took over as Haryana Congress President.
Evolution has come to the fore again Cracks Rajya Sabha elections were held in Haryana Congress less than two years before the assembly elections in the state were held.
In related development, Makeno were taken The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday challenged Sharma’s victory. In his petition, he questioned the validity of a vote cast by an MLA representing the ruling BJP-JJP alliance.
Maken’s petition Nothing to do with Chowdhary, at least two Congress leaders told ThePrint.
ThePrint sought Maken’s comment on the matter through phone calls and text messages and other Congress leaders in Delhi, but did not get a response. This report will be updated when he responds.
Read also: 3 states, thrice trouble: Why Congress’s struggle will not end in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan
who said what
Makena interacting with the media outside the court premises on Monday Allegedly said: “It was clear that when Kiran Choudhary came out after casting her vote, she herself said that she had put a ‘tick mark’ against the name of the nominee. The number, and therefore, was no doubt rejected. The vote cast was of Kiran Choudhary.
Chaudhary, the daughter-in-law of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal, told ThePrint that there was a “big conspiracy” against her within the party and that Maken appears to be a “pawn”.
“How is he so convinced that the invalid vote was mine,” he asked. “He is deliberately misinterpreting my comments after the Rajya Sabha elections. By ‘tick mark’ I simply meant that I went in, I voted for the Congress candidate and I came out. I didn’t want to reveal much in front of the media. It was said in the common Haryanvi language.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)