Kiran Blamed Wrong Candidate Selection for Congress' Defeat in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh

In a scathing critique of the Congress party's candidate selection process, Kiran Choudhary, the MLA from Tosham, has blamed the wrong allocation of ticket as the primary reason for the party's defeat in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency. Rao Dan Singh, the Congress candidate, lost to BJP's Dharambir Singh by a margin of 41,510 votes. 

Choudhary, a former minister, pointed out that Dan Singh failed to secure even the votes of his own family members in his home Assembly segment of Mahendragarh, a constituency he had represented four times in the past. Additionally, he trailed in three other Assembly segments falling within his home district of Mahendragarh. 

Expressing her dismay, Choudhary stated, "This happened despite massive anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP in Haryana. Apparently, it was arrogance that led to the party's defeat despite the fact that there has been positive political vibes across the state for the Congress." 

Choudhary attributed the defeat to strategic miscalculation in the selection of candidates for the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Gurugram Lok Sabha constituencies. She claimed that her daughter, Shruti Choudhary, a former MP and the current working president of the state Congress, would have won the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat by an emphatic margin had she been given the ticket. 

"We were never called to party meetings and were never involved in the campaign. This despite the fact that I am the Congress MLA from Tosham and Shruti is the working president of the state Congress," Choudhary lamented. "I had brought the matter to the notice of the party high command during campaigning." 

Expressing shock over Dan Singh's dismal performance in his home constituency of Mahendragarh, where he lost by 4,840 votes, Choudhary said, "The poll data indicates that Rao Dan Singh, who belongs to Mahendragarh district, has lost in all four Assembly constituencies of the district. However, he led in three of the five Assembly segments in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts." 

Choudhary recalled that during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, when Shruti was the Congress candidate, she trailed in the Tosham Assembly segment by 36,000 votes. "But still, Congress workers in Tosham covered this deficit to a major extent and reduced this loss margin to 8,063 votes. Thus, I can't be blamed for the defeat," she added. 

While Choudhary did not campaign for Rao Dan Singh in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh segment, she did go to Sirsa district to campaign for Kumari Selja, with whom she shares a close relationship, along with Randeep Surjewala. It is believed that former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda had lobbied for Dan Singh to be given the ticket. 

The criticism from Kiran Choudhary highlights the internal divisions within the Congress party and the importance of candidate selection in determining electoral outcomes.