It will be my endeavour to take everyone along: New Haryana Cong chief

Chandigarh, Oct 6 (PTI) Haryana Congress' newly appointed president Rao Narender Singh on Monday sought cooperation from workers and leaders to strengthen the party and said it will be his endeavour to take everyone along.

Rao Narender formally assumed charge at the party's state unit headquarters here this evening. "In discharging my responsibility, it will be my endeavour to take everyone along," he said while addressing a gathering.

Congress leaders from across the state who were present included former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was also recently appointed as CLP by the party in the state, other senior leaders party state affairs incharge B K Hariprasad, Birender Singh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, outgoing state unit chief Udai Bhan, party MPs including Deepender Singh Hooda, Varun Chaudhary and Jai Prakash, several party MLAs, among others were also present.

Senior leader and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja did not attend as she was abroad.

Singh, emphasising discipline within the party unit, advised the Congress workers and leaders that if they have any issue concerning him or anyone they can do so with party senior leadership or at party platform, but they must not take it to the media.

At the event, many Congress leaders touched upon the reasons behind the party not being able to wrest power from BJP in the October 2024 assembly polls, attributing it to reasons which included the party lacking an organisational structure in Haryana for the past decade.

They also targeted the BJP on "vote theft" charge, and said it was also the reason due to which Congress could not form the government.

Singh said, "I consider myself as an ordinary worker of the party. Workers are the backbone of the Congress party. Had things like "vote chori" not happened and had BJP not indulged in dishonest practices and misled the people by playing divisive politics, we would have formed the government.

Rahul Gandhi is exposing BJP's 'misdeeds' and 'false propaganda' fearlessly, he said. "Now, hydrogen bomb in Haryana's context will also come before you." He appealed to the gathering to strengthen the Congress, saying party is above all.

"If Congress is strong, everyone will be strong," he said.

In his address, former Union minister Birender Singh, who had switched over from Congress to BJP where he spent a decade and returned to the grand old party last year, said he knows the saffron party inside out.

Birender Singh, a senior Congress leader, claimed BJP succeeded in its "divisive politics" in the 2024 election.

He added that not having an organisational structure in place for decade also did not go in Congress' favour.

The Congress leader also told the newly appointed state unit chief that he must work to have a full organisational structure in place, but cautioned him that people should not be accommodated just because they are favourites of any particular leader.

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, at the outset, told Rao Narender, "I am confident that you will discharge this role impartially and fearlessly." About Congress not forming a government in Haryana in 2024, Surjewala said there was dejection about this among Congress workers, but at the same time there was hope and courage to fight challenges.

He, however, said there was a need to ponder why Congress was out of power in Haryana for the past eleven years now.

"One question arose in previous elections... and maybe earlier too, that maybe we cannot give ticket to every deserving candidate." "But was ticket distribution correct in the last election that Congress could win or was it not?" he said while telling the Haryana affairs incharge that answers have to be found so that we do not commit mistakes in future.

Apparently referring to factionalism which has, in the past been seen in state unit, Surjewala said, "...the identity to which group one belongs has become bigger than even the Congress and because of which common worker of the party has to suffer, this is the bitter truth".

Surjewala also took a jibe at the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government, alleging "while the Goonda raj prevailed in Haryana before 2004, today there is biggest organised crime mafia in the state".

In his address, Bhupinder Singh Hooda accused the BJP of "vote chori" and said this was one factor which had a role in why Congress could not come to power in Haryana.

He said today Congress has waged a fight to save the constitution and added "saving it means saving the country".

Targeting the Haryana government, Hooda said, "What BJP did in eleven years, only event management. They speak big things. They talked about doubling farmers income whereas they are not even getting the MSP of their crops".

Hooda told the gathering, "don't harbour any differences, fight to strengthen the Congress".

"There may be differences of opinion, but there should not be differences of heart," he added. PTI SUN NB NB