Congress appoints Selja Kumari as Haryana unit chief, Bhupinder Singh Hooda as CLP leader

NEW DELHI: Ending months of speculation, Congress Wednesday appointed senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Selja Kumari as the chief of its Haryana unit, replacing Ashok Tanwar. The party also appointed former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and Chairman of the State Election Committee, reported news agency ANI.

The development comes ahead of the state assembly election, scheduled to be held in October 2019. Congress had failed to win a single seat in Haryana during the 2019 general elections. 

The announcements were made by former Union Minister and Haryana Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and party General Secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal.

Selja Kumari, a Rajya Sabha MP, was the cabinet minister at the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the UPA government. 

Hooda and his loyalists held long talks with Congress top helm in the national capital to take a decision on future actions. According to news agency IANS, Hooda and his loyalists were demanding the removal of Ashok Tanwar as the state unit head.