The Congress has sought to pacify former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda by making him the chairman of the coordination committee that would look after election management in the state.

Hooda, who wanted to take the party’s reins as state chief replacing Ashok Tanwar, was initially not happy with the offer but was persuaded to take up the responsibility.

Hooda would have preferred to be projected as the prospective chief minister in Haryana, which will go to the polls after a few months, but there is still some time left for that decision.

Party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the coordination committee that includes PCC chief Tanwar, legislative party leader Kiran Choudhary, former Union minister Kumari Selja and senior leaders Randeep Surjewala, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Captain Ajay Yadav and others.

The party is planning to take all the senior leaders by bus across the entire state, hoping the collective campaign would considerably dilute faction rivalry in the state.

While Hooda and Tanwar have behaved like enemies in the past, even Kuldeep Bishnoi and Selja don’t have good relations with the former chief minister.