On Friday, a heated argument broke out in a closed-door meeting of selected senior leaders of Haryana Congress with Rahul Gandhi and representatives of All India Congress Committee. The meeting was called to discuss ways to strengthen the Haryana Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Also, this meeting is taking place in the midst of the continuing factionalism in the Haryana Congress Committee regarding leadership. Presently this post is held by Kumari Selja. The relationship between Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Shailja is not good. Let us tell you that due to internal strife, factionalism, caste and wrong handling of party affairs by the high command, Congress has faced a crushing defeat in Punjab.
According to party insiders, Rahul Gandhi stressed on the need for Haryana Congress leaders to field immediately ahead of the 2024 elections. During the meeting, when he urged the state leaders to express their views, internal strife came to the fore. Shailaja categorically stated in the meeting that neither the Hooda camp cooperated nor did the AICC help her despite repeated pleas. He was forced to contend with a team of three or four.
It is understood that despite the high command projecting her as a dalit and women leader, as a token PCC chief the ‘efforts to reduce’ were condemned. Kumari Selja rained heavily on Hooda in front of Rahul Gandhi. He said some leaders never cooperated in strengthening the Congress’s fight against the BJP. However, Hooda, the Leader of the Opposition in Haryana, vehemently denied the allegation. He said that there is an urgent need to strengthen the Congress organization in Haryana. He said that he is second to none in fighting BJP leaders including PM and CM.
According to party insiders, his son Deepender Hooda openly advocated for the Jat leadership of the Haryana Congress, stressing the need for a correct narrative ahead of the elections. He is considered the first choice of Hooda camp for PCC leadership.
After the defeat in the assembly elections of five states, the Congress has stepped up efforts to curb factionalism in various states. In this regard, former party president Rahul Gandhi has met the leaders of Haryana Congress on Friday. In the meeting, discussions were held to strengthen the organization for the 2024 elections. Rahul Gandhi met the leaders of Haryana Congress separately and then together. Party sources say that differences remain in the state Congress. While former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his supporters have reiterated their demands, many leaders of the state are opposing it.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda is one of the disgruntled leaders of the party. After the defeat in the elections of five states, the disgruntled leaders held a meeting and issued a statement. He had demanded a collective and inclusive leadership in the party. Hooda had met Rahul Gandhi after the meeting of disgruntled leaders. This meeting of Haryana Congress leaders with Rahul Gandhi on Friday is being linked to the change of leadership in the state. The feud between Hooda and state president Kumari Selja is old. In such a situation, the party leadership is trying to end the dispute by taking everyone’s opinion. Many senior leaders including state president Kumari Selja, senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Surjewala, Deepender Hooda, Kiran Chaudhary, Kuldeep Vishnoi and state in-charge Vivek Bansal were present in this meeting. A party leader said that the state Congress leaders can also meet Sonia Gandhi soon.
Congress does not want to repeat old mistakes in Haryana
In fact, in Haryana, the Congress does not want to repeat the old mistakes. In the 2019 assembly elections, the party made Hooda the face of the campaign committee one and a half months ago. Even in such a short span of time, Hooda brought the party to the fight. Hence, this time the party wants to clear the situation in advance. Along with this, the Aam Aadmi Party is also a big challenge for the Congress. Haryana is the home state of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. After a resounding victory in Punjab, AAP’s eyes are on Haryana. AAP has appointed MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj as state in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta as election in-charge.