Following the series of meeting held between Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge Kamal Nath, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several other senior state Congress leaders, the party has decided to replace the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.
With a board of Consensus, party high command, Sonia Gandhi has decided to replace incumbent Haryana party president Ashok Tanwar and appoint Union minister Kumari Selja as the new president.
According to the party sources privy to the matter, the opposition leader in Haryana assembly and leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Kiran Choudhry will also be removed and the vacant post may land up in the Hooda camp. Bhupendra Singh Hooda who has been the former Chief Minister of Haryana for two consecutive terms holds good command in the region and enjoys the maximum support among Congress MLAs.
The official announcement will be made once the party vice president Rahul Gandhi returns from his two-week long tour to the United States.
The need for the change in position was felt because according to the High Command Ashok Tanwar and Kiran Choudhry were not getting the support of many senior Congress leaders. Another major reason for the change in posts is that Congress is preparing for the election campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in 2019 and Haryana assembly elections also due in 2019.
According to Sonia Gandhi, replacing Selija who is a Dalit leader like Ashok Tanwar and appointing a strong Jat leader in place of Kiran Choudhry will be a tactful move to portray Dalit-Jat leadership combination in top posts of PCC and CLP. With the help of these two politically important social segments, the party is hoping to come back with a and make its presence be felt, which currently is feeling left out under BJP government in Haryana led by Manohar Khattar.