According to Ajay Singh Chautala, general secretary of the INLD and Rajya Sabha member, the Congress is a divided house where most of the leaders nurse leadership ambitions and sometimes even openly express their differences. In such a situation, the third party is naturally the gainer, he feels.

The INLD leaders believes that on seats like Ambala, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Karnal, Gurgaon and Faridabad, the Congress leaders are divided and there exists groupism among the party which will eventually benefit them.

“Differences between Union Minister Selja, MP from Ambala, and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda have sometimes come out in the open. Selja, who is said to be close to Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, remains immune to any direct or indirect pressure exerted by the state leadership,’’ points out an opposition leader.

Similarly, differences between Minister of state for Tourism and Forest Kiran Choudhry and Hooda have often come to the fore. While Kiran Choudhry is reportedly pushing hard for daughter Shruti’s candidature for the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh Parliamentary seat, Hooda is said to be keen to have Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharamvir Singh as the party’s candidate. Naturally, one of the two groups will end up being the disgruntled element. This again will help the INLD, feels the opposition.

The opposition leaders point out that both sitting MP Avtar Singh Bhadana and MLA Karan Singh Dalal are trying hard for the Faridabad seat. The dissatisfaction among party workers whose leader is deprived of the ticket will eventually help the prospects of the opposition, according to sources.

In Gurgaon, too, the Congress leaders are reportedly divided in two groups — between supporters of Rao Inderjit Singh and Capt Ajay Singh Yadav — which the opposition leaders say will work to their advantage.

In Karnal, three Congress leaders, namely sitting MP Dr Arvind Sharma, MLA Venod Sharma and working president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Kuldeep Sharma, are vying for the ticket, while the Sonepat seat is being sought by a number of top Congress leaders.

“It is a fact that some top Congress leaders don’t see eye to eye with each other in many constituencies. In many places, the interests of Congress leaders clash due to the rivalry over tickets. In all these places, we will be the beneficiary,’’ said an INLD leader.

However, putting to rest all the talks of differences among the Congress leaders, Pawan Jain, media convenor of HPCC, says the opposition was afraid of facing the electorate and was trying to confuse the voters. “The hatred between the INLD and the BJP leaders is known to everyone. The Congress under Bhupinder Singh Hooda is united. We are going to do exceedingly well in the forthcoming polls,’’ said Jain.