Anti-incumbency and attrition: Congress faces double trouble in Haryana

Chandigarh: With the high command increasingly perceived to be partial to particular sections of the Congress at the cost of others, the party is staring at the problem of high level of attrition at several levels. In Haryana, which goes to polls in a few months, it is not the anti-incumbency factor alone that is haunting the party, it is grappling with desertion of senior leaders too.

In the last six months, from around the time of the Lok Sabha elections, hordes of Congress leaders have been quitting the party, virtually revolting against the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and accusing him of regional bias in the development of the state. Given the widespread discontent against him, Hooda would not have survived as chief minister till the end of the second term without the backing of the high command.

Power Minister and former finance minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav is the latest to raise the banner of revolt against the leadership of the chief minister. The six-time MLA, Capt Yadav, who handed over the letter of his resignation from the cabinet a few days ago, made it clear that he had grudge only against the leadership of Hooda and had no plan of leaving the party. The Congress high command then made urgent efforts to placate him and in the end he finally relented, but the entire episode has left the Congress jittery.

Rajya Sabha member Selja Kumari has for long accused Hooda of neglecting development works in her constituency Ambala. Congress leader, Rajya Sabha member and former finance minister of the state, Birender Singh, who is on the verge of leaving the Congress to join the BJP, has been crying hoarse against the chief minister’s style of functioning. Grandson of great farmer leader, Sir Chhotu Ram, Birender has been the nursing the dream to be chief minister for years. He has now been removed from the Congress Working Committee and also served a notice by the Congress high command asking why he should not be expelled for anti-party activities. He is most likely to announce his decision to join the BJP at a rally by ‘Yuva Shakti-Badlav Ki Ore’ on 18 August in Haryana in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah.

Since Hooda has all along been backed by the top bosses in Delhi, he is not bothered by criticism against his leadership by any state leader, however, influential he or she may be. He has not only managed to save his chair, but also will have a say in selection of candidates for the assembly poll. “Birender’s exit will not affect poll prospects of the Congress in Haryana (Jisko jaan hai jaye. Hame koi fark nahi padta). In a democracy every leader has a right to join or quit any party,” he said commenting on Birender’s move.

On the question why his own party colleagues were antagonised with him, the chief minister said, “They are serving their vested interests. When people start conveying their announcements close to the polls, one can presume their motive.” Referring to the allegations of regional bias in terms of development of the state and distribution of jobs, Hooda told reporters that this was not the case. “People have been sitting silently for ten years and now they want to raise the issue. Their intention is clear.”

Despite what Hooda says in his defence, the fact is there is a long list of the state leaders who have quit the party in disgust in the recent past. They include Ahirwal leader Rao Inderjit Singh, Venor Sharma, Dharambir, Ramesh Kaushik, Gopal Kanda, Ashok Buwaniwala, Karambir Saini, Renu Bala Gupta, Kulbir Beniwal, Kulwant Bazigar, Jagdish Nehra, Sukhbir Farmana, Soumitra Dahiya, Jaisingh Bishnoi, Jaibhagwan DD etc. Rao Inderjit was the tallest leader of the Ahirs in the state, but he always criticized Hooda’s leadership and accused of regional bias in development works.

Venod Sharma, a Brahmin leader, was considered the right hand man of the chief minister. Sharma was instrumental in installing Hooda as the chief minister of Haryana, but he still quit the Congress to form his Jan Chetna party. Gopal Kanda, who had quit Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD to join the Congress, was the Minister of State for Home in the state cabinet and yet he left to form a separate Haryana Lokhit Party. When the Congress seemed disinclined to give Dharambir the Lok Sabha ticket from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh constituency, he quit the party to join the BJP.

The one common grouse of these leaders Hooda’s working style and his ignorance of their constituencies in development works. Leaders who have already left or are on the verge of leaving have been parroting the same regional bias in development by the chief minister. “During his ten years term, Hooda developed only three constituencies — Rohtak, Sonepat and Jhajjar — while neglecting the rest of Haryana. We find it very difficult to face voters from our constituencies when they ask what have we done for them,” alleges Capt Ajay Singh Yadav. Incidentally, Rohtak is Hooda’s own assembly constituency while his son Deepender Hooda is MP from Jhajjar and his wife comes from Sonepat.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections the BJP won seven out of the ten seats in Haryana. Three of the BJP candidates, who won Lok Sabha seats from Gurgaon, Sonepat and Bhiwani-Mahendrgarh constituencies, were ‘imports’ from the Congress. They included Rao Inderjit Singh, Ramesh Kaushik and Dharambir. Had the party high command listened to their complaints and taken timely action, Congress would not have been routed in the poll, managing to win a just a single seat from Jhajjar.

Birender Singh, who has been running a relentless campaign to remove Bhupinder Singh Hooda, feels there is very little chance for the party in the coming elections if it continues to be led by the same leader. Commenting on the slogan, ‘Hooda sarkar teesri baaar’, (Hooda government for the third time), he said when the party was facing such a critical time and the top leaders were being forced to quit the party, the Congress won’t even manage to get seats in double digit in the 90-member assembly in the forthcoming poll. “Congress is a sinking ship with big holes and with no chances of repair,” he said.