Haryana elections: Manohar Lal attacks Sonia, Congress demands apology

Senior BJP leader and the Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar, lashed out at the Indian National Congress party on October 13 and said despite looking for three months, Sonia Gandhi was appointed the interim chief of the party. The Chief Minister on Sunday dismissed Sonia Gandhi's return as the interim president of the Congress party. 

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'We thought this was good'

Addressing an election rally, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar recalled, "After losing the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi resigned as the Congress president and started saying that the party should get new president from outside Gandhi family." CM Lal added, "We thought this was good, to move away from nepotism (parivarvad)... But they spent three months moving around the country in search of a new party president. After three months who became the president? Sonia Gandhi. Khoda Pahar Nikli Chuiya... This is their condition," added Khattar.

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INC condemns remarks made by CM Khattar

The INC via its official Twitter handle has condemned the remarks made by the Haryana CM; the message roughly translates to: "The comment made by the BJP's Chief Minister is not only cheap and objectionable, but it also shows the anti-women character of the BJP. We condemn Chief Minister ML Khattar's remark and demand an immediate apology from him," the Congress tweeted in Hindi.

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BJP has released its manifesto for the state

Ahead of Haryana assembly elections on October 21, BJP has released its manifesto for the state on Sunday. The manifesto is titled 'Mhare Sapne Ka Haryana' or 'My dreams of Haryana'. The party has promised an increase in farmer's income and zero tolerance to corruption. As per reports, the party had divided the state into 2,000 categories and has sought suggestions for the manifesto. Reportedly, it received about 1.70 lakh suggestions for the manifesto from across the state. Later, the committee constituted under the leadership of Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankhar selected 200 suggestions and included them in the manifesto. Congress had already released its manifesto on Friday, making promises like the farm loan waiver, unemployment allowance for graduates and post-graduates, free rides for women in Haryana Roadways, etc.

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'Internal contradictions'

In a massive setback to the Congress party ahead of assembly polls in Haryana, its former state chief Ashok Tanwar resigned from the party on Saturday. Even as the Congress party named its former Haryana chief as a star campaigner for the upcoming assembly polls, he resigned saying the Congress party is going through an 'existential crisis' because of the 'internal contradictions' in the party. There has been infighting within the Congress in the poll-bound states of Maharashtra and Haryana. While in Haryana there has been a divide, with one group supporting Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the other Ashok Tanwar, in Maharashtra, former Mumbai chief of the party Sanjay Nirupam has revolted openly against the party.

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(INPUTS FROM ANI)