Former Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee President Ashok Tanwar and his supporters protested outside interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 10 Janpath in New Delhi on Wednesday, PTI reported. Tanwar alleged that the tickets for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections were being “sold”, and his supporters raised slogans against election management committee chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Congress had last month named Kumari Selja chief of its state unit, replacing Tanwar, and Hooda as the chief of its election management panel, in a bid to curb infighting.

Tanwar’s supporters had also gathered outside the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, The Tribune reported. “Sohna Assembly ticket has been sold,” Tanwar told his supporters at the venue. “Sonia ji has always fought against injustice. Today we want justice from her.”

Tanwar claimed that his list of 15 candidates was rejected by “people who want to destroy the Congress”. He accused Selja and Hooda of denying tickets to people who “worked hard on the ground”. The Haryana Congress leader also said he and his supporters would battle against “anti-Congress forces”.

“Even during MC [municipal council] elections in the state, Rahul Gandhi asked everyone whether we should fight on a symbol,” Tanwar said. “Majority 85% workers said ‘yes’ and yet we did not fight on a symbol.” The politician claimed that he had been invited to join the Bharatiya Janata Party six times, but did not do so.

The last date for filing nominations for the October 21 Assembly polls is October 4. The results will be declared on October 24. All 90 seats in Haryana will go to the polls. The ML Khattar-led BJP government has been in power since 2014. The BJP had declared its first list of candidates on September 30.

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