Jitters in Haryana Cong as ‘SRK’ opens front against Bhupinder Hooda

New Delhi: Trouble in brewing in Haryana Congress as the troika of Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary, now known as ‘SRK’ group, have joined hands against Bhupinder Hooda ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections later this year, launching a separate ‘yatra’ despite a direction from party in-charge.

The scene in Haryana is a mirror reflection of what the party is facing in neighbouring Punjab with Navjyot Singh Siddhu holding parallel rallies and meetings in the state much to the chagrin of the state leadership with whom the former cricketer has an acrimonious relationship.

The ‘SRK’ on Wednesday launched a ‘Jan Sandesh Yatra’ to popularise Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and the party’s programme from Hisar, two days after the state unit’s ‘Ghar Ghar Congress’ campaign was launched by Hooda in Jind.

As ‘SRK’ went ahead with their yatra, party in-charge Deepak Babaria shot off a letter asking leaders not to hold parallel programmes and that workers should not be part of any programme other than ‘Ghar Ghar Congress’. The intense campaign comes as leaders expect that the BJP may advance the Assembly elections to coincide with Lok Sabha elections.

However, the senior leaders from Haryana – Selja, Surjewala and Chaudhary – defied it and went ahead with their programme in Hisar, which is Selja’s hometown. The yatra will culminate in Ambala in mid February. Surjewala could not attend the inauguration of the yatra, which the leaders said will cover all Lok Sabha seats, but he joined on the second day.

The leaders are pitching it as a yatra against the BJP-led state government and popularise Congress ideology and programme.

Incidentally, Surjewala and Selja are powerful General Secretaries and members of the Congress Working Committee. All the three leaders had been opposed to Hooda for years and had been eyeing the post of Chief Minister, which had gone to the veteran leader earlier. This time too, Hooda has got a head start and is perceived to be the front runner.

His clout in the party state unit could be gauged from the fact that he managed to get his close follower Uday Bhan as state president while Ashok Tanwar, who later left the party, and Selja lost their state presidentship. Hooda is accused of not cooperating with these leaders as most of the party workers owed their allegiance to him.

Questions had also been raised against Hooda for not ensuring Ajay Maken’s election to the Rajya Sabha while an independent Kartikeya Sharma, a media baron, won the seat. He was also part of the G-23 that sought clarity on Congress central leadership earlier and Selja had sought action against Hooda for meeting Ghulam Nabi Azad after the latter attacked the Gandhis.

Hooda’s meeting with Azad, who had then quit the Congress, was seen as a surprise as the party leadership had acceded to his demands to remove Selja and appoint Bhan as state chief while retaining the Legislature party leadership. Selja was then made General Secretary and CWC member.