Hours after joining, Cong fields Vinesh from Julana in Haryana polls

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for the Haryana assembly polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.

The list was released after the Central Election Committee of the Congress met in New Delhi, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, All India Congress Committee in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and Hooda, among others, attending the meeting.

Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

The party has also fielded Surender Panwar from Sonipat, Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak, Kuldeep Vats from Badli, Chiranjeev Rao from Revari and Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT.

Earlier, on the possibility of any MP contesting the polls, Babaria said after the CEC meeting, "To date, no MP has been permitted to contest Assembly elections." Asked about Phogat contesting the polls, he said, "I think it has been decided that she will contest from Julana."

The Congress is also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides.

However, the prospects of a tie-up appeared bleak on Friday with both sides hardening their stance.

The Congress has been engaged in hectic consultations over the last few days to explore the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Haryana polls, even as some of its leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The sources said the Hooda faction of the grand old party and some other leaders are opposed to a seat-sharing deal with the AAP. According to these leaders, Kejriwal's party does not have much ground in Haryana.

Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.