CHANDIGARH: After nearly 11 months of uncertainty, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been appointed leader of the Congress legislative party in Haryana, making him the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly. Rao Narender Singh, an OBC leader, has been appointed president of the Haryana Congress.
Sources said that nearly a year after losing the assembly polls, the Congress appointed Rao Narender, who has decades of political experience, including serving as health minister in the Hooda cabinet and as a three-time MLA.
As Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president, Rao, an OBC leader from the Ahirwal region of southern Haryana covering Rewari, Mahendragarh, and Gurugram, represents the party’s outreach to the OBC voter base, which had tilted towards the BJP in last year’s assembly elections, where the saffron party won ten out of eleven seats, and in 2014, won all 11 seats.
Rao’s proximity to senior party leader Rahul Gandhi also gives him backing from the high command. He was twice elected MLA from Ateli and later from Narnaul. Rao was earlier with the Haryana Janhit Congress before switching to the Congress. His father, the late Rao Bansi Singh, was a three-time legislator and once served as Panchayat Minister.
Rao takes over from Udai Bhan, who was appointed state unit president in April 2022. His appointment also marks a shift from the tradition of Scheduled Caste leaders heading the Haryana Congress, as the last four presidents, Phool Chand Mullana, Ashok Tanwar, Kumari Selja, and Chaudhary Udai Bhan, all came from the SC community.
Naming Hooda as CLP leader once again acknowledges his influence, reaffirming him as the party’s undisputed leader in the state. Hooda was appointed CLP leader nearly a year after the assembly elections, with most Congress MLAs supporting him following the party’s failure to unseat the BJP. The CLP post had remained vacant since the assembly polls last year.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Rao Narender Singh as the new HPCC president and cleared the return of Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Congress legislative party leader.