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The Congress on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for Haryana assembly elections and fielded former wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will contest from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and state Congress chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. The party has fielded Mewa Singh against Chief Minister and BJP candidate Nayab Singh Saini in Ladwa. Pradeep Chaudhary is in the fray from Kalka, Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT, Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar (SC), Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak, and Surender Panwar from Sonipat. In a big boost to Congress, Olympian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress earlier in the day. Within hours of his joining the party, Bajrang Punia was appointed working president of All India Kisan Congress. Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Saini said every person has his or her own opinion about which ideology they want to associate with. However, he took a dig at Congress, saying it has opposed decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Congress should clarify its intention behind inducting senior players. "Every person has its own opinion about which ideology they want to associate with. Congress should clarify its intention behind this. PM Modi has always taken decisions in the national interest. And Congress has always opposed all of its decisions. So they should clarify as they do politics in the name of players, soldiers and farmers," he said. Punia and Phogat joined the Congress in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, party leader Pawan Khera, Udai Bhan, and AICC incharge of Haryana Deepak Babaria. Phogat recalled women wrestlers' fight over sexual harassment allegations against former BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. "The fight is continuing, it hasn't ended yet. It's in court. We will win that fight as well... With the new platform that we are getting today, we will work for the service of the nation," she said. "When we were being dragged on the road, all parties except the BJP were with us. I feel proud that I have joined a party which stands with women and is ready to fight from 'sadak to sansad'...," she added. The two well-known wrestlers joined the Congress almost a month before the Haryana assembly polls. The wrestlers resigned from their respective positions in Northern Railways earlier in the day. Punia won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, while Vinesh Phogat became the first woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final. Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling a short while after she was disqualified from the Paris Olympic Games after being found overweight by about 100 gm in her 50-kg category weigh-in ahead of the gold medal match. Earlier, AICC in-charge of Haryana, Deepak Babaria, talked about seat-sharing talks with AAP for the Haryana polls. He said that apart from the AAP, INDIA bloc partners including the Communist Party of India (CPIM) and the Samajwadi Party, have also approached them to fight the assembly elections together in the state. "Currently we are speaking to the Aam Aadmi Party. One or two other parties have also approached, we will respond in a day or two. CPI (M) and the Samajwadi Party approached us. They are expecting a very small number. They want to make their presence felt in the state," Babaria stated. According to sources, Rahul Gandhi sought the opinion of Haryana Congress leaders over the possibility of an alliance with AAP for the forthcoming Haryana Assembly elections during the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held in the national capital on Monday. Arvind Kejriwal had earlier stated that his party would contest the Haryana Assembly polls in on its own strength. The BJP has already released its first list of 67 candidates for Haryana Assembly polls on Thursday. Voting for the 90-member legislative assembly in Haryana will be held on October 5, with the last date for filing nominations is September 12. Votes will be counted on October 8. (ANI)
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