Chandigarh, Nov 9 (IANS) The Congress Monday admitted that infighting within its ranks in Haryana cost it dearly in last month’s assembly poll.
“We suffered setback on several seats due to infighting within the party,” Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana told mediapersons here.

Mullana said the election results were being reviewed and appropriate action would be taken against leaders who indulged in anti-party activities in the recent elections.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in the 90-member house but fell short of a simple majority by six seats. The Congress had won 67 seats in the February 2005 assembly poll.

The party was forced to seek the support of seven Independent legislators and later reward them with ministerial berths and political offices in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government.

Mullana himself lost the assembly election from the Mulana seat in Ambala district. He too has been accommodated by Hooda as deputy chairman of the state’s 20-point programme implementation committee in the rank of a cabinet minister.

He said some complaints were received from Bhiwani district about leaders working against the interests of the party. “These are being looked into,” he added.

Mullana did not blame wrong ticket allocation to be a major reason for the Congress going down saying that candidates were chosen by the high command after due consultation with state leaders.

Regarding the Haryana Janhit Congress, led by Kuldeep Bishnoi and former Congress chief minister Bhajan Lal, joining the Hooda government in the future, Mullana said that the Congress high command in New Delhi was mulling over it.

He indicated that the the HJC, which was now in a position to bargain, had become ambitious in laying conditions to join the Congress government.

The Congress leaders are asking Bishnoi, a former Congress MP himself and now a legislator, to merge the HJC with the Congress. The HJC is resisting all these attempts.