Haryana Elections: Congress Walking On Tightrope Between Hooda And Selja Camps

The ongoing rivalry between the Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja factions is causing confusion among the Congress cadre in Haryana about the party’s candidate for chief minister (CM).

This confusion is further intensified as both camps organise their own separate yatras (campaign rallies) across the state in the lead-up to the state assembly elections scheduled for October this year.

On 27 July, Kumari Selja, Member of Parliament (MP) from Sirsa, started her 'Congress Sandesh Yatra' from Ambala. In the yatra posters, she was projected as the CM candidate, with Randeep Surjewala and Birender Singh by her sides.

Former union minister Singh was in the BJP and joined Congress earlier this year. He joined the Selja camp, replacing Kiran Choudhry, who left the Congress to join the BJP after the Lok Sabha elections.

Thus, the Selja camp, earlier known as SRK in Haryana (Selja, Randeep Surjewala, Kiran Choudhry), is now known as SRB (Selja, Randeep Surjewala, Birender Singh). The posters show Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, but no one from the Hooda family.

Also, Udai Bhan, the Haryana president of Congress, is not seen in these posters, as he is considered close to Bhupinder Hooda and was appointed president, replacing Selja at Hooda's insistence.

Before Selja's yatra, the son of former Haryana CM Hooda and Rohtak MP, Deepender Singh Hooda carried 'Haryana Maange Hisaab Yatra' from 15 to 21 July, covering 13 constituencies.

The second phase of this yatra started on 31 July and will last till 30 August, covering 56 constituencies. In this yatra, Deepender Hooda is being projected as the CM candidate.

Deepender won the Lok Sabha election in 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019, after which, he was sent to the Parliament through the Rajya Sabha route. He has now vacated the Rajya Sabha seat after winning the 2024 election.

Calling the 2024 assembly elections his last, Bhupinder Hooda is in the mood to settle his son for the top post. Apparently, Hooda enjoys the trust of the Congress' central leadership and has been given a free hand.

Even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all Congress tickets were distributed as per Hooda's wishes and Selja camp got only one ticket. Despite being part of Congress's G-23 group, he managed to keep his hold over the party structure.

However, Hooda is not in a position to sideline Selja, who is a Dalit, since Dalits form 20 per cent of the population of Haryana and Congress has no influential Dalit face other than Selja.

Hence, Selja's assertiveness is being tolerated. This is apparent from state Congress president Udai Bhan's statement on Selja's separate yatra where he said it does not matter as long as she is working for the party.

Moreover, in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's recent insistence on having Dalits, tribals and backward class people at top posts, Selja has a good chance to project herself as the CM candidate.

If that indeed becomes the case, Hooda is well placed to sabotage the elections for Congress due to his influence over party organisation and Jat votes.

Jats form the biggest community in Haryana, in terms of numbers, followed by Dalits. Thus, Congress is walking on a tightrope and has to balance between both factions to win the elections.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sorted out its leadership issues well before the elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asserted that the party will contest the election under CM Nayab Saini's leadership.

The BJP has decided to continue its reliance on the Other Backward Classes (OBC) vote bank by making a slew of announcements for the community and with an OBC CM at the helm.

It is also reaching out to Brahmins with a Brahmin state president, Mohan Lal Badoli, and to Dalits with Krishna Bedi as the state general secretary, but has left Jat votes to be divided among other parties.

The Congress has an edge in this election because the BJP is facing an anti-incumbency of 10 years. However, with a divided house, it is creating troubles for itself.