In balancing act, Rahul meets Selja ahead of Haryana voting
In a delicate balancing act on the eve of the October 5 Haryana elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met senior party leader Kumari Selja who, until recently, was visibly upset with the affairs in the state unit.
The venue of the early morning meeting was significant — 10, Janpath. It’s the official residence of Rahul’s mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi, who has progressively withdrawn herself from active strategising, choosing to leave party’s affairs to current president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul.
During the meeting, Rahul is learnt to have sought Selja’s feedback on Congress’ prospects in the Haryana elections and the ground situation.
The meeting was a bid to pacify the AICC general secretary who has openly staked claim to the CM’s post should the party win this time. She had also for a while bunked the campaign scene in Haryana to make her absence felt. She eventually campaigned.
On the tricky issue of the chief ministership, Congress sources said the party’s position in Haryana, as in other states, was that the matter was open and would be discussed after the results.
“There is nothing new about the party’s position on the issue of chief ministership. The Congress has conventionally decided CMs only after the elections. An exception was made for Capt Amarinder Singh on the eve of 2017 Punjab Assembly poll but otherwise it has always been a post-poll matter,” a top AICC functionary told The Tribune today.
Asked how the name of non-MLAs (Selja and Randeep Surjewala) could be deliberated upon at the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Haryana should a post-poll situation so warrant, another Congress source said, “A person not being an MLA does not stand in the way of their becoming a CM. That said, power equations also weigh.”
In Haryana, the perception from the start of the poll cycle has been that former CM and Jat strongman Bhupinder Singh Hooda is a clear choice for the chief ministership should the party win. The name of his son and MP Deepender Hooda also remains in contention for the job if the results permit.
This perception stems from realpolitik. The Congress gave BS Hooda a free hand in the ticket selection this time and the majority of contestants were chosen on his advice. In a post-poll situation, this matrix could place the Hoodas at a formidable advantage over Selja and Surjewala.
The Congress sources, however, say there is a solution to this seemingly complex power game.
“Names of potential CM nominees can be proposed at the CLP meeting should results favour the Congress and MLAs can elect their leader,” a Congress office-bearer said.
At the meeting today, Selja is learnt to have told Rahul that the Congress was in pole position in Haryana due to “his Bharat Jodo Yatra and BJP misrule”.
Though the meeting happened before Rahul left for Haryana where Ashok Tanwar rejoined the party later, The Tribune has learnt that Tanwar was not discussed.
Sources told The Tribune that “party issues and elections were discussed at the meeting between Rahul and Selja”.
They said the engagement was primarily meant to signal unity in the party’s ranks and ensure that “the Congress government in Haryana, should it be formed, has the blessings of all factions and leaders”.
Tanwar’s return signals Dalit consolidation
The return of former Indian Youth Congress chief and Scheduled Caste leader Ashok Tanwar, who had quit in 2019, signalled the party's growing Dalit consolidation, said party sources.
“A Dalit leader of Tanwar's maturity would rejoin the Congress only if he feels he has space for growth in the party. His return strengthens Rahul Gandhi's 'save the Constitution' pitch,” the sources said.
They added that the development further showed the Congress under Rahul would be all-embracing. The reference was to the burial of hatchets between Tanwar and BS Hooda, who were at loggerheads when Tanwar was the Haryana Congress chief from 2014 to 2019 before he left the party. Today Hooda felicitated Tanwar on the Haryana stage.
