Rahul Gandhi steps in to pacify sulking Selja; Will he succeed?

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has directed top Congress functionaries to persuade senior leader Kumari Selja to join the party's campaign in Haryana.

Selja, a Lok Sabha member from Sirsa, has not been campaigning in the poll-bound state since September 11 as a mark of protest against the decision of the Congress leadership to give the majority of tickets to the camp owing allegiance to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

An upset Selja is also said to have offered her resignation from the post of the general secretary to the Congress high command.

As many as 72 candidates out of 89 declared by the Congress were given on the recommendations of Hooda. Polling for the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held on October 5, and the results will be declared on October 8.

Selja, a prominent Dalit face of the grand old party, has since refused to campaign for the Congress candidates.

The move by Selja, a former union minister, has put the Congress on a backfoot in Haryana. Her boycott could electorally hurt the party's prospects and also antagonise the Dalit population in the state.

The support of Dalits along with Jats is crucial for the Congress to regain power from the BJP in the state after ten years.

While Jats account for 27% of Haryana's estimated 31 million population, Dalits constitute around 21%.

Selja's protest move to stay away from campaigning has given a fresh ammunition to the BJP to attack the Congress over the alleged infighting in its state unit.

Rubbing salt into Congress party's wounds, union minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has invited to join the BJP.

Congress leaders are of the view that if Selja decides to jump ship it will be disastrous for the party and dent Rahul Gandhi's Dalit outreach and his 'Save Constitution' campaign.

With panic buttons pressed, Congress leaders are desperately trying to reach out to Selja through her close associates in a bid to persuade her to join the campaigning.

It remains to be seen how Selja responds to Rahul Gandhi's overtures.