'Deep-Rooted Conspiracy To Crush Senior Leaders': Congress Contender as Raj Babbar Gets Poll Ticket

Chandigarh: Moments after the Congress announced the candidature of senior leader Raj Babbar from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday, former Haryana Minister and party leader Ajay Singh Yadav, who was also a contender for the seat, cried foul over a "deep-rooted" conspiracy “to crush senior leaders” within the party, news agency PTI reported.

Notably, the announcement came just a day after the nomination process began for all the 10 seats in Haryana where polling will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Yadav – without taking any names – expressed his unhappiness, saying, "I will abide by the decision of the National leadership. But there is a deep-rooted conspiracy of few congress Haryana state leaders to crush the senior Congress leaders".

“I am and will always work for the Congress Party”, he further wrote in a post on 'X'.

Babbar will be contesting against BJP veteran and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, who is seeking re-election from Gurgaon.

The BJP had earlier targetted the Congress over alleged infighting in its state unit and claimed it had delayed the announcement of candidates.

Last week, the Congress had announced the names of eight of its candidates from Haryana. Former Union minister Kumari Selja has been fielded from Sirsa and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda from Rohtak.

The party's Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja has been fielded from the Karnal seat against former state chief minister and BJP candidate Manohar Lal Khattar.

The ruling BJP named its candidates for six Lok Sabha seats in Haryana on March 13, three days before general elections were announced. It named the remaining four candidates on March 24.  

(With inputs from PTI)