Reversing its earlier decision to leave the Haryana Congress election committee untouched, the party high command today decided to expand the body to make room for ex-MP and Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh. The move is aimed at giving representation to the erstwhile Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), which merged with the Congress some time ago. Surender Singh was the secretary-general of the party headed by his father. He will be a special invitee to the 13-member committee. Sources disclosed that several state leaders had made representations to party president Sonia Gandhi against the composition of the committee, alleging that its balance was tilted in favour of state president Bhajan Lal. As many as five members belong to his camp. They also pointed at several anomalies. For example, the OBC representative in the committee, Ramji Lal, even though a former Rajya Sabha member, was better known as a key worker for Bhajan Lal in his Assembly constituency of Mandi Adampur than as a leader in his own right. He had never fought an Assembly or Lok Sabha election. Both Zakir Hussain and Ramesh Kaushik were not state-level leaders, while Suresh Gupta was hardly a known face. State working president Randeep Singh Surjewala was not in the panel and the high command hoped his father, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, would fill in for him. The sources said the high command was not inclined to recast the body fearing it would open up a Pandora’s box — the committee becoming a bone of contention, with each group pressing its claim for membership. The committee is scheduled to meet on December 25 to begin the process of shortlisting candidates for the ensuing Assembly polls. However, sources hinted that the committee may be dissolved after passing a resolution that its job be handled by the screening committee, which is yet to be set up.
