Cong names Selja Haryana unit chief, Hooda made head of poll management panel

In a bid to end factionalism in the party ahead of assembly polls in Haryana, the Congress on Wednesday named Kumari Selja chief of its state unit and appointed former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda chairperson of the election management committee.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi also appointed Hooda the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader, and by virtue of that leader of opposition in the state assembly, Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad announced.

He was addressing a press conference here with general secretary organisation K C Venugopal by his side.

Selja, 56, is a former Union minister and known for being close to Sonia Gandhi. While she takes Ashok Tanwar's place as Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Hooda will replace CLP leader Kiran Choudhary.

Tanwar, who finds himself out of favour, is known to be close to Rahul Gandhi. He had been state unit chief since 2014.

The Hooda faction had been demanding a change in the Haryana Congress leadership ahead of the assembly polls in October this year.

His supporters wanted 71-year-old Hooda to be installed as the new Congress chief in Haryana. However, the party leadership was not inclined to do so and wanted to replace Tanwar, a Dalit, with a Dalit. Therefore, according to sources, the decision to finalise Rajya Sabha MP Selja.

The party's decision to give Hooda the responsibility of leading the election charge follows his August 18 'Maha Parivartan Rally' in Rohtak when he declared that the Congress had "lost direction".

Asked about Hooda's remarks and the factionalism plaguing the Haryana unit of the party, Azad said all that was in the past and a new beginning had been made with the appointments.

Pressed further, Azad said Hooda had been given the responsibility now. If the party had lost direction, he can bring it on the right path, he said.

On the delay in appointments, Azad said, "Better late than never."