Randeep Surjewala is a prominent Indian politician. He is from Congress party. He is also a former MLA from Haryana and the chief spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC).
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Wiki/Biography
Randeep Surjewala was born on Saturday, 3 June 1967 (age 52 years; as in 2019) in Chandigarh. His zodiac sign is Gemini. His full name is Randeep Singh Surjewala. He did his schooling from Adarsh Bal Mandir High School and Arya Senior Secondary School in Narwana, Haryana. After this he studied Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from DAV College, Chandigarh in 1981. In 1985, he did his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Panjab University, Chandigarh. In 1995, he did his master’s in political science from Punjab University.
Randeep Surjewala in his younger days
In 1988, he began practicing law at the age of 21. Initially, he worked with a law firm named “Shroff & Company”. In 1991, he commenced practice in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In 1992, he became the youngest senator of Panjab University and also a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee in the Faculty of Law. His father was a prominent politician of the Congress Party and he used to help his father in party activities. Randeep also helped his father rebuild the Congress in Haryana.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 10″
Eye colour: black
Hair Color: Black
Family, Caste and Wife
Randeep Surjewala belongs to a Jat family. His father, Chaudhary Shamsher Singh Surjewala is a retired Indian politician from the Congress Party, who served as MLA in Haryana Legislative Assembly for 5 times and as MP in 1993. His father also served as the President of the Youth Congress before independence. His mother Vidya Surjewala is a housewife. He has 3 elder sisters, Madhu Dalal, Poonam Chaudhary and Neeru (deceased).
Randeep Surjewala (right) with his father Shamsher Singh Surjewala (left)
On 26 December 1991, he married Gayatri (a housewife). They have two sons, Arjun (elder) and Aditya.
livelihood
Randeep joined politics when he worked with his father in the day-to-day running of the Congress party. His father was working towards rebuilding the Congress party in Haryana. Randeep soon became an active member of the Congress Party and in 1986, he was appointed as the Joint Secretary of the Haryana Youth Congress. He was the youngest joint secretary of the Congress Party. Eventually, he was promoted as the General Secretary of Haryana Youth Congress. In 1993, Surjewala made his electoral debut by contesting the Haryana Assembly by-election from Narwana Assembly constituency, but he did not win.
Randeep Surjewala with Sonia Gandhi
He worked in his constituency for 3 years and in 1996 he contested the assembly elections. He was fielded against the then Chief Minister of Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala. He came into fame after his victory as winning against a sitting Chief Minister was a great achievement. In 2000, he was re-elected from Narwana assembly constituency. In March 2000, following his victory in the Haryana Assembly, he was appointed as the National President of the Indian Youth Congress. He held the position until February 2005, making him the longest serving president of the Indian Youth Congress. In 2004, he was appointed as the Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) by Rahul Gandhi.
Randeep Surjewala with Rahul Gandhi
In December 2004, a few months before the 2015 Haryana Assembly elections, Surjewala was appointed as the working president of the Haryana Congress. He also contested from Narwana Assembly constituency and won against the sitting Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. Congress also won the Haryana Assembly elections and Surjewala was appointed cabinet minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. During his tenure as a Cabinet Minister, he held the charge of various departments like PWD, Power and Parliamentary Affairs. In 2009, he was re-elected as MLA from the newly formed Kaithal assembly constituency; After delimitation of Narwana assembly constituency. He was appointed as a Cabinet Minister, and held portfolios such as Water Supply and Sanitation, Parliamentary Affairs, Electronics and Information, Science and Technology and PWD.
Randeep Surjewala in a rally
In 2014, he was re-elected as MLA from Kaithal assembly constituency of Haryana. In January 2019, Congress announced Surjewala’s name as its candidate from Jind Assembly by-election in Haryana. Reportedly, Surjewala did not want to contest the election as he was a sitting MLA, but Rahul Gandhi convinced him to contest from Jind; Because he wanted a strong face to win the by-election before the Haryana Assembly Elections 2019 in October 2019. Surjewala suffered a humiliating defeat in the by-election and finished third. He contested the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections from Kaithal Assembly constituency, but lost to BJP’s Leela Ram.
Randeep Surjewala addressing the press conference
He was appointed as the General Secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh on 17 August 2023.
controversies
- In October 2012, a Dalit girl from Hisar was raped. The girl’s father committed suicide after a video of the girl being raped by the accused was circulated. The girl said that her father was a gardener at Surjewala’s house, but he neither talked to the family nor visited them. He told the media that if Surjewala had taken cognizance of the incident, the police would have worked more efficiently. However, he took no such action, the victim said.
- In February 2016, when Surjewala was addressing a press conference, he addressed the 2001 Parliament attack convict “Afzal Guru” as “Afzal Guru ji”. The video clip of Surjewala addressing him as “Afzal Guru Ji” went viral on social media. After this, when he was asked why he was addressing a terrorist with so much respect, he had to apologize.
- After the terrorist attack in Pulwama in February 2019, Surjewala had said in a tweet – ‘Pakistan has violated ceasefire more than 5000 times, now where is Narendra Modi’s 56-inch chest?’ Surjewala was criticized a lot for his tweet. People from all sections of the society criticized him and said that instead of condoling the CRPF soldiers, Congress is politicizing the terrorist attack.
Signature
Randeep Surjewala’s signature
property/property
- Bank Deposit: Rs 66.95 lakh
- Agricultural Land: Price Rs 17.50 Lakh in Narwana, Haryana
- Commercial Building: Price Rs 1.63 crore
- Residential Building: Price in Chandigarh Rs 18 lakh
Salary and Net Worth
- Salary: Rs 1 lakh + other allowances (as an MLA)
- Net Worth: Rs 4.39 crore (in 2019)
Facts/General Knowledge
- He likes listening to ghazals and poetry, he also likes trekking and camping.
- In 2015, he was appointed as the head of AICC communications department by Rahul Gandhi.
Randeep Surjewala with Rahul Gandhi
- He is a close associate and advisor of Rahul Gandhi.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn