Haryana: 'Either Me Or My Son Deepender Would Fight LS Poll This Time,' Says Bhupinder Hooda

Chandigarh: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said that either he himself or his son Deepender Hooda would fight the upcoming Parliamentary polls, this time.

For the record, both of them had fought the previous 2019 general elections from Sonepat and Rohtak, respectively, and lost. Deepender, an MP (Lok Sabha) thrice, is currently Rajya Sabha member from Haryana.

Stating that even though the final list of the Congress candidates would be declared by the party after its screening committee meeting, Hooda, who is also Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Haryana assembly, held that the father-son duo had probably lost as both of them contested. Moreover, since he was the CLP leader and the state assembly polls were also due later this year, hence the decision, he added.

Hooda, who was accompanied by the state party president Udai Bhan, was addressing newspersons here after Arjun Singh Gurjar, a former MLA and another leader Bhum Singh Rana, joined Congress.

``This time, even though there were talks that Deepender would be fielded from the Rohtak seat, I would take a call in case only if he chooses not to fight’’, Hooda held, putting to rest talks that he had declined to contest this time.

Replying to a query pertaining to other senior leaders, Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary, senior Congress leader Hooda said that he would be happy if they decided to fight the Lok Sabha elections.

When asked about his comments on the ruling BJP, the former two-time chief minister Hooda said that the party had failed on all fronts. ``While the law and order has collapsed, the scale of unemployment and drug menace is alarming in the state’’, he added. Polling for all the 10 seats in Haryana would be held on May 25 in the sixth of the seven-phase general elections.