Work around factional fault lines, high command tells Haryana Congress

New Delhi: Amid the BJP's attempts to cash in on non-Jat votes, the Congress central leadership wants the dominant Bhupinder Hooda-led faction in poll-bound Haryana to accommodate views of inner-party rivals like Kumari Selja and not send a negative signal to caste groups.

At the same time, sources said, the leadership also wants leaders like Selja and Randeep Surjewala not to precipitate a crisis during the election, which the party believes it is winning after being out of power for 10 years, by targeting Hooda.

Congress on Monday initiated the candidate selection process for the October 1 polls with the Screening Committee headed by Ajay Maken starting meeting leaders individually to elicit their views. The exercise will continue for a couple of days.

The Hooda faction and the Selja-Surjewala faction are at loggerheads in Haryana and have not yet shown a united face with both sides holding their programme. Even the campaign videos are being released separately avoiding any footage of the rival camp leaders.

Sources said both sides need to face the election united. Otherwise, they said, the party may not be able to capitalise on the anti-incumbency against the BJP government and the goodwill Congress has generated through the support to the farmers and wrestlers protest, among other things.

The leadership is wary of the possibility of the Hooda camp riding roughshod over the rival faction as it could end up mobilising the non-Jat communities against the Congress. They believe the BJP does not want a consolidation of non-Jats behind the Congress.

A senior leader said Hooda, a former chief minister and a frontrunner for the top post if Congress returns to power should be accommodative towards rival leaders. At the same time, the leader said, Selja and others also should not be attempting to push Hooda to a corner.

Leaders cite the Lok Sabha elections to argue that Congress could not get the expected results because of differences within the party. Hooda had then managed to grab eight out of nine tickets, barring one to Selja, for his camp followers and could win only five.