Legislature party leader’s post: Rivals out to get Bhupinder Singh Hooda, does he stand a chance? Meet on October 18

Bhartesh Singh Thakur/Aditi Tandon

As more and more defeated Congress candidates raise their voices over the party’s debacle in the recent Haryana elections, questions over the state leadership are coming to the fore.

The biggest question revolves around the position of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He had led the party from the front and most of the winning candidates, as many as 28 out of 37, belong to his camp.

The Tribune has also learnt that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has tasked a three-member high-level committee to determine the causes behind the party’s loss in the state despite a 10-year anti-incumbency against the BJP, which even improved its tally from 2019.

The committee consists of former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, ex-Rajasthan minister Harish Chaudhry and party’s Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur Sasikanth Senthil. They will look into both political and technical (EVM-related) issues, with respect to the Congress’ dismal show in the state.

The party has submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission flagging EVM-related discrepancies in 20 segments of the state.

Significantly, data from the ground is now testament to why this Haryana election was so closely fought. While the BJP’s historic, third win gave it 48 seats, with 39.94 per cent of the vote share, the Congress won 37 seats with 39.09 per cent of the vote— a mere 0.85 per cent lower than the BJP.

Still, the question of electing a leader at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting is not an open-and-shut case. The meeting elects the leader who will head the Opposition in the state Assembly. It will be held in Chandigarh on October 18.

Asked if he will become the CLP leader in Haryana, Hooda told The Tribune, “Woh party faisla karegi (The party will decide). They (the central observers) will take feedback from the MLAs. The final decision rests with the high command.” On whether he would accept the post if chosen, he said, “It is a hypothetical question.”

The party has deputed its central observers for the meeting—former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Rajya Sabha MP and party treasurer Ajay Maken as well as leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa. They will speak to all the winning candidates and gather feedback on the putative CLP leader.

Certainly the party “high command”, led by Rahul Gandhi, will have a huge say in the final decision.

Then there is the other faction in the Congress led by Sirsa MP Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala. Six winning candidates belong to this faction, while three are said to be neutral. But if history is any guide, it is never as straightforward as that in the Congress.

Hooda was the CLP leader in the outgoing house from 2019-2024. At that time, too, the majority of MLAs were with him. In 2022, he successfully got Selja replaced as the state party president by another Dalit leader, Udai Bhan. With state in-charge Deepak Babaria on his side, the lion’s share of party tickets for the 2024 Assembly poll—more than 70 out of 90—went to the Hooda camp.

In the October 18 CLP meeting, it is learnt that MLAs close to Hooda plan to nominate him for the CLP leader’s post, a position that would also make him the Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative Assembly.

“If the party appoints someone else instead of Hooda as CLP leader, it will send the wrong message. He is still the tallest leader in the Haryana Congress. Most of the MLAs are Hooda loyalists. We are going to suggest his name,” said an MLA close to Hooda.

It is not clear if candidates belonging to the Selja-Surjewala camp will also propose one of these names as the CLP leader. Selja, who was miffed over the ticket distribution, refrained from campaigning for at least two weeks. Although she eventually returned, she continued to express her displeasure in media interviews, claiming that her community aspired to see a Dalit Chief Minister.

The BJP not only capitalised on Selja’s dissatisfaction, but engineered a Jat vs non-Jat narrative. The Congress also lost key seats in Jat strongholds, losing 18 out of the 35 constituencies with over 50,000 Jat voters. Bhan also lost from Hodal.

In her media interviews, Selja blamed the ticket distribution and the state party unit for the defeat. Attacking the Hooda camp, she alleged that the party “failed to see what the people were showing and instead saw what a particular set of people were showing”.

Shamsher Singh Gogi, a Selja loyalist who lost from Assandh, has blamed Hooda for his defeat. The party’s OBC cell chairman, Capt Ajay Yadav, also pointed to the pre-election internal tussle over the Chief Minister’s position as a key reason for Congress’ failure. Yadav’s son, Chiranjeev Rao, lost from Rewari.