It is believed that Kumari Selja is upset that the Congress has given a free hand to her arch rival and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in ticket distribution as most of the candidates who got tickets are considered close to Hooda.
Elections are to be held on October 5 for 90 seats of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, but before that, the tussle between the ruling BJP and the main opposition party Congress has intensified to woo the Dalit voters of the state. Congress General Secretary and famous Dalit leader Kumari Selja has suddenly become the center point of this tussle. 61-year-old Selja is a prominent Dalit face of the Congress party, but there are reports of her being allegedly angry with the party. There are reports that Kumari Selja has distanced herself from the assembly election campaign. However, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has said that Selja will campaign from September 26.
Meanwhile, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar has invited Selja to join his party. Former Haryana Chief Minister Khattar has also pointed to the alleged internal strife in the Congress state unit ahead of the assembly elections. Now Union Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah also launched a scathing attack on the Congress on Monday, calling it an ‘anti-Dalit’ party and said that it has ‘insulted’ Dalit leaders like Kumari Selja and Ashok Tanwar. Shah, while addressing an election rally in Tohana, also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks regarding reservation and said that if anyone can protect reservation, it is only Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Why is Kumari Selja angry?
It is believed that Kumari Selja is upset that the party has given a free hand to her arch rival and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in ticket distribution, as most of the candidates who got tickets are considered close to Hooda. Most of the 17 reserved (SC) seats in the state have been given tickets by Hooda’s loyalists. Former Union Minister Selja has a good support base in many districts including Sirsa, Ambala and Hisar. Selja last attended programs organized in support of party candidates Shamsher Singh Gogi and Shaili Chaudhary on September 11 in this election.
Dalit vote in Haryana is 20 percent
In such a situation, questions arise that why is BJP and its leaders worried about Kumari Selja, when this is an internal matter of the Congress party. The simple answer to this is the state’s nearly 20 percent Dalit vote bank. Since Kumari Selja is a famous Dalit personality of the state, and there are a lot of political discussions about her being sidelined in the Congress, the BJP is trying to use her as an excuse to tell the entire Dalit community that the Congress is anti-Dalit. The BJP is trying to create an anti-Congress atmosphere in the state’s 20 percent vote bank by giving the example of Kumari Selja.
How was the result of reserved seats in 2019
In Haryana, Dalit votes are not concentrated in any particular area but are spread across the state. Because of this, their influence is in the entire state. In Fatehabad district, their number is more than 25 percent. Political experts say that if BJP is successful in dividing Dalit votes, then BJP will get direct benefit because in the 2019 assembly elections, Congress won 6 out of the total 17 reserved seats, while BJP got 5 and JJP got 4 seats. Dalit voters have also played a decisive role in the 5 seats won by Congress in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Also read: Congress is an anti-Dalit party, insulted Kumari Selja… Amit Shah in Haryana Also read: Mallikarjun Kharge will not attend the rally in Haryana, why did the plan change suddenly Also read: How much has the picture of women changed in Haryana elections? Only 87 women MLAs since 1966 Also read: Why are the sons of three sons of Haryana unable to do wonders, two surrendered before CM Saini
BJP wants division of Dalit-Jat votes
The big thing is that two Lok Sabha seats in the state (Ambala and Sirsa) are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Congress has won both these seats. Kumari Selja herself has defeated BJP from Sirsa by a huge margin of 2.68 lakh votes. Therefore, BJP is trying to divide the Dalit votes of the state on the pretext of Kumari Selja so that the party can win. Apart from Dalits, BJP is also trying to divide the Jat vote bank. Traditionally, Congress’s vote bank has been Jat and Dalit and whenever there has been a division in it, BJP has got political benefit. Under this strategy, BJP has fielded 16 Jat candidates.