Haryana: Taking moral responsibility, Babaria offered to resign

Haryana: Congress’ Haryana in-charge general secretary Deepak Babaria has offered to resign from his post, taking moral responsibility for the assembly polls defeat, alleging that the Congress was “cheated” and its votes were “stolen”. Speaking to The Tribune, Babaria said, “I had offered to resign soon after the Haryana assembly election results were announced last week. Though my health does not allow me to proceed, I submitted my resignation to the party high command, taking moral responsibility for the results.” Babaria, who insisted that the Congress has not been rejected by the voters, alleged that Congress votes were stolen. Without naming any party, he said, “Our votes were stolen in at least 15 seats. EVMs were changed and a certain proportion of votes were transferred to the quota of independent candidates to reduce our votes. I come from Gujarat and understand what can be done.” Downplaying the infighting in the Congress camp, he said the party has suffered a loss of seven to 10 seats due to lack of unanimity among top leaders but it has no far-reaching impact. “We had our own weaknesses and we made some mistakes in ticket distribution. Also, we dashed some hopes, but the Congress has been cheated in this election,” he claimed. Babaria, who has stayed away from campaigning due to ill health, said he has not submitted any report to the high command on what went wrong, especially when the Congress was hoping for a comeback after being in the Opposition for a decade. “I have not submitted any report but I will send a letter to Congress workers in the state. The party has not been rejected by the voters. This is not the end for the Congress. However, the BJP has succeeded in showing that it has got a resounding mandate and PM Modi is a popular leader,” he said. In the 90-member assembly, the BJP won 48 seats while the Congress won 37, including three independents who decided to support the BJP. Two seats were won by the INLD. Sources said Babaria has offered to step down but there could be further changes. There are doubts over Udaybhan’s continuation as state chief but all eyes are on the party’s selection of the leader of opposition in the assembly.