CHANDIGARH: Congress leaders in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Haryana are looking for greener pastures. They are dumping the Congress for BJP and bumping the CM’s already dented image. The party won only one seat in the Lok Sabha polls. Accused of running a one-man show in the state by party leaders who have walked out on him, Hooda is battling a grim descent within the party ahead of the assembly polls. To make things worse, his cousin Birender Singh, senior state Congress leader and a Rajya Sabha MP, is set to join the BJP which was ahead in 52 Assembly segments in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Already bogged down due to the anti-incumbency factor, Congress fears Singh’s exit at this stage could deal a debilitating blow to the party prospects in the coming polls. Singh openly revolted against Hooda and refused to contest the coming polls under his leadership. “I am having a meeting with supporters. I will decide after their feedback. I will do whatever they say. If they say I must join BJP, I would do that,” said Singh, who is a respected and prominent leader among the Jats in the state. His joining the BJP could turn the tide in favour of the saffron party.
“I will continue my fight against discrimination in development in several areas of the state,” Singh said. He held a closed-door meeting at a hotel in Delhi with National BJP President Amit Shah and also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. This was confirmed by Haryana BJP President Ram Bilas Sharma. He will share stage with Shah and Rajnath Singh on August 18 at Kaithal at a rally organised by a Hissar-based organisation Yuva Shakti.
Hooda’s travails don’t end here. His close confidant, Ambala MLA Venod Sharma resigned from Congress and floated the Jan Chetna Party. He could also join the BJP. He has influence among sugarcane growers in constituencies of Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar districts besides his own constituency.
Sources say Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister, Kiran Chaudhary is also not happy with the CM. Hooda, however, denied this.
He said, “No leader is unhappy because of me, they (detractors) may say so because of their vested interests. If Birender leaves, it will have no effect on Congress.”