Haryana Congress leader planning BJP switch?

NEW DELHI: Haryana Congress continues to be wracked by rebellion amid indications that Rajya Sabha MP and senior state leader Birender Singh may cross over to BJP ahead of assembly elections.

A photograph of Singh meeting BJP chief Amit Shah surfaced on Wednesday. Congress sources conceded that Singh could leave the party. The dissident leader also confirmed that he met Shah on Tuesday evening. "We discussed issues relating to Haryana because the state needs a new direction," he told TOI.

Singh said he would visit his constituency on Thursday and discuss his future course of action with his supporters. He, however, denied that he was on the verge of joining the BJP.

Coming a day after power minister Ajay Yadav resigned from the state cabinet slamming chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the possibility of Birender Singh jumping ship reinforced the perception of Congress state unit being a divided lot in the run-up to assembly elections.

Singh blamed Hooda for the rampant rebellion in the party. "It is all because of Hooda's style of functioning," he said.

AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed played down the twin developments that have embarrassed the Congress. He said he would try to speak to Singh on his meeting with Shah.

However, he appeared more hopeful on Yadav after the rebellious leader met him in the evening to discuss his grievances. Ahmed said he was hopeful that the crisis would be sorted out soon. "Yadav first met the CM and he has now met me," Ahmed said.

The rumblings do not portend well for Congress that is staring down the barrel after the decimation in Lok Sabha elections, a situation made worse by the fact that the gainer is not the local outfit INLD of O P Chautala but national rival BJP.

The state goes to polls in October and Congress strategists concede that the party's fortunes are unlikely to change much from the parliamentary polls when it could win only one seat out of ten.