Chandigarh : Upbeat after its performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, the Congress has stepped up its efforts to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the State, where Assembly elections are due after a few months this year. The Congress has started searching for winning candidates in all 90 Vidhan sabha constituencies, also kicked off its campaign to reach out to people to keep the momentum going in the run-up to the Assembly polls. HPCC president Ch. Udai Bhan along with former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Karnal Lok Sabha candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja addressed a ‘Karyakarta Sammelan’ in Karnal. The event that was also organised in Kurukshetra, and will also be held in Sonepat and Panipat on Friday has started campaigning for the Vidhan Sabha elections, likely to be held in October.

Congress state president Udai Bhan on Sunday said that as the party maintained lead in 46 of 90 assembly segments in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, it has targeted to win more than 70 + seats in the assembly polls. The event was also organised in Kurukshetra, and will also be held in Sonepat and Panipat on Friday. Bhan said that in the 2019 parliamentary polls, Congress led on just 10 segments and rose to 31 in the assembly polls the same year. He added, as Congress have led on 46 segments this time and the state elections are just three months away, the party has targeted to win at least 70 seats or even more than that. He told the workers, to expose the BJP, we should work door-to-door and take forward the party’s promises to the people.

 The Congress leader said that BJP’s vote share in 2019 was 57.7% and dropped to 46.1% this time, while Congress rose from 28% to 47.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, Hooda also hit out at the Nayab Saini-led state government and said that after the poll debacle, they have started rectifying property IDs and family IDs, as well as looking to public grievances through district administrations. Udai Bhan said, BJP should first apologise for making people stand in queues for weeks, it was a joke exposing how there were mistakes in 95% of the IDs and huge amounts worth lakhs of rupees were wasted. He said that it is the result of the tremendous support received by the Congress that the government remembered to give 100 square yard plots each to the poor, which was approved during the previous Hooda government, and this government stopped it for 10 years.

Addressing the gathering, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked the workers to implement a two-point action plan for the upcoming assembly elections. “Firstly, the failures of the BJP government in 10 years, false promises, falsework, corruption have to be taken to every family, and the question has to be asked: what did this government do in the past 10 years. Secondly, the households should be apprised of the work of the previous Congress government in 10 years,” Hooda said. On a media question, the former Chief Minister Hooda denied allegations by ruling Chief Minister Saini that the Congress spread lies that the Constitution will be ended if the BJP is voted to power. “We never said that. Rather it was their MPs and candidates, who told the voters to give them 400 seats and the Constitution will be changed,” he said.