New Delhi, February 10
There is nothing known as a free lunch. Congress party’s chief ministerial aspirants for Haryana have discovered this the hard way. Having just about recovered from a gruelling campaign in their home state, the AICC has now sent them packing to Bihar, ostensibly to shore up the party campaign for the second phase of elections.

However, the real reason for this move is to get the Haryana aspirants as far away from Delhi as possible. Having finished with their own election, the CMs-in-waiting had started hovering around the Congress headquarters, lobbying hard for the top job in Haryana with AICC leaders.

Consequently, PCC chief Bhajan Lal, the state unit’s working president Randeep Singh Surjewala, CLP leader Ajay Singh Yadav, Birendra Singh, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Jaiprakash have all been despatched to Bihar with instructions to campaign vigorously for the party. Union ministers Selja and Rao Inderjeet Singh, who are also in the race for the CM’s post, have been spared for now but the party could draft them for the third phase of elections.

AICC leaders privately admit that this would provide them some respite for a few days at least. The official explanation is that the party wants to utilise all the available talent and all these Haryana leaders are seasoned and experienced campaigners as they have contested several elections in the past.

Although this visit is being seen as a “hardship assignment”, Mr Birednra Singh and Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala are drawing solace from the fact that they have been asked to visit Katihar and Madhubani, respectively, the two areas where Congress President Sonia Gandhi is to campaign on Saturday. They are also feeling reassured that all the CM aspirants will be out of Delhi at the same time, providing for a level playing field as they have all been denied the opportunity to lobby with the AICC leadership.

Besides Bihar, Mrs Gandhi is slated to address four rallies in the Ghumla, Ranchi, Ghatsila and Simdegar constituencies of Jharkhand tomorrow. She will shre a platform with JMM chief Shibu Soren at Ghumla which is being contested by the latter’s party. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to campaign in Jamshedpur, which has a large Punjabi population, on February 13