For the Adampur bypoll in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal on Thursday fielded Kurdaram Nambardar, a Haryana Congress veteran who joined the INLD after failing to get a ticket from the party he had worked with nearly for four decades.
The Congress has fielded a veteran politician and party hopper, Jai Prakash, as its nominee in the election where former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s grandson and son of Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhavya Bishnoi, is the BJP candidate. The AAP has declared Satender Singh as its pick. While both Bhavya and Satender have filed their nominations, the Congress and INLD nominees are expected to file their papers Friday.
Kurdaram accused the Congress legislature party leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of taking “arbitrary decisions” in the party. “I am quitting the Congress with a very heavy heart,” he said Wednesday.
Kurdaram said he had met both Bhupinder Hooda and Deepender Hooda and told them that even if they would not like him to contest the bypoll, they should not field an “outsider like Jai Prakash”, but they did not agree.
Announcing Kurdaram as the INLD candidate in Hisar, party leader Abhay Chautala said, “The Congress has deliberately fielded a weak candidate to ensure that the BJP’s Bhavya Bishnoi wins from Adampur. The Congress’ Bhupinder Singh Hooda is playing the role of a BJP agent. That is the reason why the Congress has deliberately fielded a weak candidate”.
Kurdaram said he had spent nearly four decades in the Congress and that he would have been the fittest candidate for the party in Adampur, but the party did not consider him. “No democracy is left in the Congress. Both Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda are taking arbitrary decisions,” Kurdaram said.
While in the Congress, Kurdaram had led an agitation seeking canal water for the fields bordering Rajasthan. He had also opened a Congress office in Adampur in the hope that the party would field him. After the Congress declared Jai Prakash as its nominee, Kurdaram removed all party posters from the office.
Chautala said said the entire Adampur wanted the Congress to field a candidate from the constituency but Bhupinder Hooda had brought in an outsider and tried to impose him on the people. “It is Bhupinder Singh Hooda who is trying hard to strengthen the BJP in Haryana,” he said.
“I had deputed five senior leaders of INLD to visit villages across Adampur and get feedback on who should be the INLD candidate. We received three names, but there was also a strong suggestion that somebody from our family (Chautala clan) should be declared as the party’s candidate. The second suggestion was our committed party worker Rajesh Godara. Simultaneously, people informed us the Congress would definitely backstab Chaudhary Kurdaram and that if we could declare him as the INLD’s candidate, all party workers would whole-heartedly support him,” Chautala said while announcing Kurdaram as the nominee.
