Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leaders KC Venugopal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ajay Maken and others during the announcement of guarantees for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Trapped in the political wilderness for 10 years in Haryana, Congress hopes for redemption in the upcoming state Assembly elections. With kisan, jawan, and pehlwan (farmers, soldiers, and wrestlers) making the BJP’s task of retaining power difficult, the stage may appear to be set for the return of Congress. But an internecine war within threatens to derail the grand old party’s dreams of consolidating the gains of the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The war over the choice of candidates was too intense with the dominant Bhupinder Hooda camp trumping Kumari Selja’s. It did not spill over to the streets though. The party also managed to persuade at least 10 rebels, who could have marred the prospects of its official candidates.
However, the party managers feel that the lack of unity among Hooda, the former chief minister who dominates the state unit, and senior leaders Selja and Randeep Surjewala are impacting their preparations for the October 5 elections.
They want the central leadership to take proactive measures to bring about a truce in the Haryana Congress as it did ahead of the elections in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh, where unity was projected through joint appearances of warring leaders during the campaign.
In Haryana, however, none of the three senior leaders is seen campaigning together for the assembly elections The same was the case during the Lok Sabha polls too.
Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda, a member of the Lok Sabha, held a ‘yatra’. Selja too embarked on a separate ‘yatra’ ahead of the announcement of the poll schedule. As recently as on Wednesday, Selja and Surjewala chose not to be present at the launch of the party’s seven guarantees for the state. After candidates were announced for all seats, Selja was also not seen actively campaigning, apparently protesting against her supporters not getting enough attention from leadership.
Hooda, who was chief minister for 10 years till 2014, has an iron grip over the Haryana Congress and his supporters account for around 70 of the 89 candidates of the party. Congress has an alliance with the CPI(M), which is contesting in one constituency.
Congress leaders, however, say the party structure in Haryana is not in shambles and it had a decent vote share in two previous Assembly elections. They also reminded that the BJP had not been able to secure a majority in 2019. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress won five out of 10 seats from the state.
The silver lining, Congress believes, is the protests by farmers and wrestlers and the resentment over the military recruitment scheme ‘Agnipath’. With some people not allowing the BJP leaders to campaign in their villages owing to action against protesting farmers, Congress believes more votes are coming their way.
Apart from anti-incumbency, the BJP may also have to respond to the Opposition’s posers on law and order, unemployment, farm distress, and women’s security.
While a weakened JJP and INLD, though with alliances with ASP (Kanshiram) and BSP respectively, has brought some cheers to the Congress camp, they wait in anticipation about the impact of the presence of the AAP candidates in all 90 seats after failing to stitch a coalition.
Congress hopes to overcome the odds through a combination of Jat and non-Jat candidates as well as by giving adequate representation for Dalits and minorities.
The results will have huge ramifications as it is one of the first elections after the Lok Sabha polls where the BJP suffered reverses as the Opposition narrative got the better of it.
Can Congress manage to keep up the pressure on the BJP at the Centre and strengthen the I.N.D.I.A. coalition? October 8, when votes are counted, will tell you that story.