Stuck door, sloganeering mar Selja’s press meet in Tohana

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, June 13

The visit of the newly elected Congress MP from Sirsa, Kumari Selja, to Tohana town of Fatehabad district today saw some drama apparently due to factionalism among local party leaders of Tohana Assembly segment.

Selja, who was on a thanksgiving visit after her victory, was addressing a press conference in a room at the venue of the workers’ meeting when former Agriculture Minister and Congress leader Paramvir Singh reached outside the venue.

As Selja started addressing the press conference, mediapersons closed the door to prevent disturbance from outside. In the meantime, Paramvir, with his supporters, tried to enter the room to join the press conference. But the door of the room got stuck.

When the door could not be opened despite repeated and loud knocks, Selja — who was unaware of the arrival of Paramvir Singh — too got upset and stopped the press conference while asking people to stop the disturbance.

But Singh’s supporters kept on knocking on the door and smashed a glass pane on the door. The door too was finally forced open.

Paramvir — on entering the room — complained that the door was deliberately bolted from inside. However, Selja tried to explain that the door seemed to have got stuck and urged Paramvir not to take the matter seriously as it was nobody’s fault. Singh finally settled down alongside Sejla who resumed the press conference.

Earlier, during the workers’ meeting, the supporters of Paramvir tried to showcase their strength by raising slogans in his favour. Selja objected to it saying that it was her programme to thank workers for their work during campaigning and there was no need for sloganeering.

Notably, there are different factions within the Congress at Tohana Assembly segment including those of Paramvir Singh, Nishan Singh and also the supporters of Devender Babli though he has not officially joined the Congress. Besides, there are some young faces of the party who too are trying to make their mark in the local politics in Tohana.

Selja got a maximum lead of over 48,000 from Tohana Assembly segment during the Lok Sabha poll which ensured her victory by about 2.6 lakh votes over BJP candidate Ashok Tanwar.

Former JJP state president Nishan Singh, who joined the Congress recently, was also sitting alongside Selja at the press conference. Besides, supporters of JJP MLA Devender Babli too attended the workers’ meeting today as Babli had extended support to the Congress in the elections. Selja even visited Babli at his office today to thank him for his support.

Addressing the press conference, Selja also spoke about the chief ministerial aspirations among leaders in Haryana Congress stating that there are always multiple aspirants for the post of Chief Minister but it is up to the party high command to take a final call on the issue.

“There are two to four names on which the party high command looks into to take a final decision. The Congress is a national party and the party high command looks into all the aspects while taking a decision. Everybody knows this,” she said.