Ahead of Assembly polls, divisions in Haryana Congress are increasingly coming to the fore with a viral video – showing party president Sonia Gandhi’s loyalist Ahmed Patel, state party in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda discuss party affairs in the state – putting stamp on the factionalism witnessed during decision on party candidates for October 21 polls.

In the video reportedly shot on Wednesday in the Parliament House complex, Hooda, Patel, and Azad can be seen discussing the number of seats (Assembly tickets) claimed by each faction. Patel is apparently seen asking about the seats given to senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala’s faction.

When Hooda says four to six seats, Patel counts 14 seats and asks about the remaining seats. When Hooda says even he has not got many, a visibly upset Patel asks Hooda about 70 of 90 Assembly tickets. To this, Hooda says 70 candidates are neutral. To which a visibly irritated Patel says “how can anyone be neutral in Haryana”.  Hooda answers him (Patel) by saying “they are neutral in their own right”.

Factions headed by former state president Ashok Tanwar and former Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Chaudhary have already alleged wrongdoings in the election ticket distribution in the state.

In fact, Tanwar, along with hundreds of supporters, carried out a protest outside the residence of Sonia Gandhi, alleging party tickets were sold for a price while people who worked hard for the party over the years were ignored.

He further alleged that the ticket for the Sohna Assembly seat has been sold for Rs 5 crore. Tanwar’s supporters raised slogans against election management committee chief Hooda. He claimed that his list of 15 candidates was rejected by “people who want to destroy the Congress”. He accused state Congress president Selja and Hooda of denying tickets to people who “worked hard on the ground”.

Later, another video emerged in which senior party leader and former minister Kiran Chowdhary is saying that her recommendation for tickets was ignored.

Even since the party’s loss in 2014 Assembly polls, factionalism has remained party’s bane with party leaders openly challenging each other than the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Following the same, the Congress recently replaced its state unit chief Ashok Tanwar with Kumari Selja and appointed former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the Congress Legislator Party leader in place of Kiran Chaudhary.

But the factions headed by all these leaders still remain at war with each other even as the party is lacking organisation at block and district level ahead of polls.

The Congress has released two lists with names of all 90 candidates for the Haryana Legislative Assembly elections. The party has repeated 16 sitting MLAs and dropped one – Renuka Vishnoi, who represented the Hansi constituency. Congress failed to win in all 10 Lok Sabha seats during Lok Sabha polls.