114 seek Congress ticket from four segments of Kurukshetra

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, August 21

As many as 114 aspirants, including sitting and former MLAs, have applied for Congress ticket from four Assembly segments of Kurukshetra district for the upcoming Assembly elections.

A maximum of 56 applications have been received from Shahabad (reserved) Assembly segment, where sitting MLA Ramkaran Kala has quit the Jannayak Janta Party and has applied for Congress ticket. Thirty-three applications have been received from Pehowa, 15 from Ladwa Assembly constituency where the party has its sitting MLA, and 10 applications have been received from Thanesar Assembly constituency.

Former and sitting MLAs, MP, businessmen, advocates and journalist are among the aspirants in Kurukshetra district. In Shahabad, sitting MLA Ramkaran Kala, former MLA Anil Dhantori, former MLA Lehri Singh, Dr Jit Singh, Reena Valmiki, Miha Singh Ranga, Babu Ram, Kanwar Pal, Pardeep Chaudhary and Anil Kumar are among the 56 candidates seeking Congress ticket. While MLA Ramkaran Kala is confident that the Congress will finalise his name, the other aspirants and the local Congress leaders have expressed resentment with the party for accepting his application as he was yet to quit from the JJP when he had applied for Congress ticket.

In Pehowa, former Kurukshetra MP Kailasho Devi, Mandeep Singh Chatha, Haramandeep Singh Virk, Sandeep Onkar, Jastej Singh Sandhu, Baba Baldev Singh, Kanwarjit Singh, Jagdish Rathi, Satvinder Singh and Aman Cheema are among the ticket seekers from the Congress. Mandeep Singh Chatha, son of senior Congress leader and former minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, had contested the previous two elections from Pehowa unsuccessfully.

In Ladwa Assembly constituency, sitting MLA Mewa Singh, Kanwardeep, Krishan Chand, Shamsher Singh, Jasbir Panjeta and Roshan Lal are among the 15 ticket aspirants. Ladwa was the only Assembly segment in the 2019 Assembly elections won by the Congress party. While Thanesar and Pehowa were won by BJP candidates, the Shahabad Assembly constituency was won by the JJP candidate.

Similarly, in Thanesar, former minister Ashok Arora, Surinder Fauji, advocate Ankit Gupta, Nishi Gupta, youth Congress leader Surya Pratap Singh Rathor, Laxmikant Sharma and Amit Garg are among those who have applied for the ticket. Senior Congress leader Ashok Arora had lost the previous election from Thanesar against BJP’s Subhash Sudha by a margin of 842 votes.

Ashok Arora, who is holding public meetings to strengthen his position, said, “The Congress party has been receiving a tremendous response from the people and leaders from other parties are joining the Congress. All sections of society are unhappy with the policies of the BJP. The Congress will form the next government in Haryana.”