Nervousness in Hooda camp ahead of counting of votes in Haryana

New Delhi: Ahead of the counting of votes in Haryana on Tuesday, the nervousness in the Hooda camp is palpable with exit polls predicting a landslide victory for the Congress.

The camp owing allegiance to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is apprehensive that the Congress high command might nominate someone else to the highest post in the state.

Hooda's close aides feel that the Congress leadership might do a repeat of 2005 if the party wins over 60 of the total 90 seats. In the 2005 assembly elections, the Congress won with a massive mandate of 67 seats, securing a vote share of 42.46%.

The grand old party had then fought the elections under the combined leadership of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, Choudhary Birender Singh, Kumari Selja and Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Though Bhajan Lal was its undeclared face during the elections and was likely to take over the reins of the government, the party in a surprise move named Hooda as the chief minister.

This was despite the fact that as many as 50 out of the 67 Congress legislators were die-hard supporters of Bhajan Lal while just 17 were against him. The moment Congress high command decided to go with Hooda, many supporters of Bhajan Lal promptly switched their loyalties.

Coming to 2024, the Hooda camp is of the view that the Congress high command, especially Rahul Gandhi, was inclined to hand over the reins of the Haryana government to veteran Dalit leader Kumari Selja this time.

Selja's supporters also remind him of his 2010 promise that he would name a Dalit chief minister in Haryana whenever he is in a position to run the party affairs.

On April 29, 2010, Rahul Gandhi surprised everyone, including the then chief minister Hooda, when he visited Mirchpur village in Hisar district where two people were burnt alive in an arson attack on Dalit houses. While a 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter were burnt alive in the April 21 attack, as many as 15 houses were damaged in the arson, allegedly by members of the predominant Jat community in the village.

On his return to Delhi, Rahul Gandhi wanted to replace Hooda with a Dalit leader but the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi refused to go for a change of guard at the insistence of her political secretary Ahmed Patel. It is said that Rahul Gandhi then told his mother that he would accept whatever decision she took but vowed to name a Dalit chief minister whenever his time came to lead the party.

Selja's supporters have reminded Rahul Gandhi that his time has come and he should fulfil his promise.

As a counter to Selja's claim to the chief ministership, the Hooda camp has started projecting young Deepender Hooda as an alternative to his father. In fact, all young Congress leaders of Haryana have on several occasions in the recent past urged the party high command to hand over the baton to Deepender Hooda. The chorus has since grown louder with Badshahpur Congress candidate Vardhan Yadav suggesting that Deepender Hooda would be a better choice.