Congress to field Manish Tewari from Anandpur Sahib, Selja from Ambala

The decision to field Tewari from Anandpur Sahib and Kewal Dhillon from Sangrur was taken by the party’s central election committee.

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Manish Tewari had lost out in the race for the Chandigarh seat to his former cabinet colleague Pawan Kumar Bansal. (File)

AFTER MUCH deliberations, the Congress on Thursday finally decided to field former Union minister Manish Tewari from Anandpur Sahib seat in Punjab. In Haryana, Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister Kumari Selja will fight the election from the Ambala seat.

Tewari had lost out in the race for the Chandigarh seat to his former cabinet colleague Pawan Kumar Bansal. The decision to field Tewari from Anandpur Sahib and Kewal Dhillon from Sangrur was taken by the party’s central election committee. The decision was firmed up during the day itself at a meeting Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel.

The party is yet to finalise its candidates in the remaining two seats of Ferozpur and Batinda. With the Shiromani Akali Dal signaling that former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal could contest from Bathinda or Ferozpur, the Congress is waiting for the SAD move to pick its nominees.

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The Congress central election committee has also cleared the names of candidates in four seats in Haryana — former MP Shruti Choudhry from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, sitting MP Deepender Hooda from Rohtak and Selja from Ambala.

Interestingly, most political dynasts from the state are in the line for tickets, which include former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda himself from Sonepat seat. While senior leader Kuldeep Bishnoi is eyeing Hisar seat for his son Bhavya, former Assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma is vying for Karnal seat — either for himself or for his son Chanakya Pandit.