Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday responded to former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar's offer for Kumari Selja, who has been upset with the state leadership, especially the Hooda family.
Selja, a prominent Dalit face, has been sulking as her camp did not get enough seats to contest. She did not show up at some key party events and campaigning. Khattar said she was not treated well in the Congress and the BJP was ready to welcome her. Reacting to this offer, Hooda said: "They (BJP) have become hopeless...they have accepted defeat."
In an exclusive interview with AajTak, Hooda spoke on a range of issues such as alliance with AAP, anger against the BJP, and caste survey. When asked whether he would implement the caste survey, a key demand raised by Rahul Gandhi, the senior Congress leader replied in the affirmative. He asserted his party would conduct a caste survey in the state, underlining that the community should get reservation based on their numbers.
On alliance with AAP, the former chief minister said that the Congress had offered more than what was due to AAP but the latter perhaps did not want the pact. After the alliance talks collapsed, reports said the Congress did not want to offer more than 3-4 seats, while the AAP demanded 10-12 seats.
Hooda said the contest in Haryana is largely between Congress and BJP. He said people have decided to remove the saffron party, and that they won't vote for vote-cutters.
Meanwhile, Kumari Selja, Sirsa MP, today said she will start the campaign in the two-three days. At a poll rally in Haryana's Tohana, Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the Congress, calling it an "anti-Dalit" party and said it "insulted" Dalit leaders like Selja and Ashok Tanwar.
Khattar, the former Haryana chief minister, had last week pointed towards the alleged infighting in the state unit of Congress ahead of the assembly polls.
Earlier today, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said Selja will address a public meeting in Narwana on September 26 and will campaign for the Congress. Selja, when asked if she was still upset, said: "In party, there are many things, but these are party's internal matters."