Will Congress squander another chance in Haryana due to internal factionalism?

New Delhi: Slowly, but surely, Congress is losing its advantage in Haryana. The grand old party has been unable to utilize the 10-year-long anti-incumbency being faced by the Manohar Lal Khattar government to its advantage, all due to petty squabbles between factions.

The biggest roadblock for Congress' return to power in next year's Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls is its internal factionalism and rift. The state unit and leadership have been torn between three powerful factions led by Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kumari Selja and the most powerful one headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Singh Hooda.

The latest open display of fissures within the state unit came when the members of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) panel had to face protests and sloganeering by various factions during visits to Jind and Hisar.

In Hisar, supporters of the party’s national general secretary Kumari Selja raised slogans against former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Singh Hooda. While in Jind, the AICC panel faced sloganeering by supporters of Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The opposing factions have accused Hooda and his son of taking complete control of the Haryana Congress by giving important posts to their loyalists, without considering merit and credibility.

The panel is in Haryana to hold meetings with party workers and get their feedback about the party and state leadership.

It is no secret that the three factions in the grand old party’s state unit don’t see eye to eye on most issues and party leaders are now blaming the central leadership for the plight of Congress in Haryana.

In the state with 10 Lok Sabha and 90 assembly constituencies, all district Congress committees have been disbanded since 2014, and the party seems to be in no hurry to establish an organizational hierarchy at the district level, sources said.  It seems that the central leadership of the grand old party doesn’t want to effect changes in the party, fearing a backlash from other groups.

It is widely believed that the 2019 Assembly polls in Haryana were lost due to the division of Jat voters in the state allowing for a return of Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state.

Jats are one of the castes that have not backed the BJP in Haryana due to its consolidation of non-Jat castes over the past. The consolidation of non-Jat votes was used by the saffron unit to ride to victory in the 2014 and 2019 state legislative Assembly polls.

The Jat community has been a traditional voter of the Congress. However, by using factionalism within Congress and also tacitly backing the Jannayak Janta Party, the BJP has been able to effectively negate this vote bank.

Sources stated that if the Congress wants to provide an effective alternative to the current Khattar government, it has to decide on its leader soon and strongly discipline any rebelling factions. “Hooda and Surjewala both hail from the community. Decide on one leader and back him completely as is being done in other states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This will ensure that party workers rally behind the chosen leader and begin working for securing victory,” sources added.

The BJP had secured seven out of the ten Lok Sabha seats in 2014, the state had given all 10 seats to the saffron unit in 2019. And the BJP is hoping to repeat its 100 per cent strike rate in Haryana in 2024 as well.

Currently, the 90-member Haryana Legislative Assembly has BJP 40, Jannayak Janta Party 10 and Congress 31 members. The other seats are held by Indian National Lok Dal and Independents.

The BJP secured 49 seats in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls, forming its first-ever government in the state under Manohar Lal Khattar.

With months left for Lok Sabha polls, the situation within the Congress is so bad that its state leadership has completely failed in putting Khattar in the dock over his failure to tackle recent communal clashes in Nuh. Instead, most of these factions in Congress have been bickering amongst themselves while allowing the Khattar government to evade tough questions. It is time that the grand old party gets its act together and regroups soon, quelling all possibilities of rebellion, if it wants to rule Haryana again.