24 Cong rebels in fray, just 3 have faced action

Chandigarh: Even as 24 rebels, including former MLAs, are in the fray from 19 assembly constituencies, the Congress party is taking its own time in acting against the dissidents. So far, only three such rebels have been placed under suspension by the party.
According to the Congress office, the three rebels who have been suspended include Chitra Sarwara from Ambala cantonment, Rajesh Joon from Bahadurgarh and Sharda Rathore from the Ballabgarh assembly constituency.
Chitra was the first to face action followed by Joon and Sharda. Congress officials said it was the prerogative of the party leadership to act against the dissenters and complaints lodged by official candidates and supporters against them were under consideration.
Besides the trio, including former chief parliamentary secretary Sharda Rathore, former MLAs Lalit Nagar from Tigaon, Dillu Ram Bazigar from Guhla Cheeka, Randhir Golan from Pundri, and Satwinder Rana have jumped into the poll fray as independents.
The other prominent names who have decided to contest elections against Congress candidates include Abhijit and Neelam Aggarwal from Bhiwani, Vijay Jain from Panipat Rural, social media influencer Harsh Chhikara from Gohana, Dr Kapur Narwal from Baroda and Virender Ghogaria from Uchana Kalan.
All of these names had reportedly contributed to the party in the Lok Sabha elections and were promised tickets for the assembly polls by the party leaders, including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son Deepender, Kumari Selja, and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
They had applied for the party tickets through proper channel after paying requisite fees and it is assumed that all of them had the primary membership of the Congress.
Sources said at least a dozen candidates could directly damage the interests of the official candidates of the Congress party in the elections. At a time when the stakes are so high, even small dents by these candidates may harm the Congress, which is riding the anti-incumbency wave, they said.
Though the senior leaders of the party remained busy in campaigning, media in-charge of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Chandveer Hooda termed the action against rebels as a “routine exercise.”