HJC leader Kuldeep Bishnoi told Newsline that candidates for Faridabad and Gurgaon have already been selected, with two more to be announced at a rally in Faridabad on February 25. He said that the party will decide on the remaining six candidates shortly and make further announcements at a rally to be held in Karnal on February 8.

Bishnoi described the BJP-INLD coalition as an “unholy” alliance imposed on the state. The alliance directive originated with central BJP leaders, he said, and has left the party’s Haryana members confused and resentful over the arrangement.

Bishnoi said he would contest from Bhiwani, where he had been elected on the Congress ticket before leaving the party. On being asked whether parting from Congress was a betrayal of the Bhiwani voters who elected him to office, he accused the party’s high command of betraying their own mandate, which once favoured his father, then-Haryana Congress president Bhajan Lal.

“I was suspended for saying Special Economic Zones, where the government took over agricultural land, left farmers landless and jobless. We will encourage people to vote for candidates with a clean image and a good track record,” he added.