CHANDIGARH: All is not well in the Haryana Congress with the appointment of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Haryana, who will eventually become the Leader of the Opposition, and Rao Narendra Singh, a former health minister, named as President of the Haryana Congress.
Hooda has once again consolidated his hold over the state unit of the party, but voices of dissent are starting to emerge in the faction-ridden grand old party. Senior Congress leader and former minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav has questioned the appointment of Rao as chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.
Sources said detractors may view this as marginalisation of the anti-Hooda camp, which comprises Sirsa Member of Parliament Kumari Selja, former Union minister Birender Singh, and Congress general secretary and MP Randeep Singh Surjewala.
A party leader said the challenge for both Hooda and Singh is to strike a balance between asserting authority and accommodating rival factions. Factionalism has kept the party paralysed, and the consequences were visible in the last three state Assembly elections.
Capt Ajay Singh Yadav took to the social media platform ‘X’, tagging senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, and BK Hariprasad, to express his disappointment and concern over the decision. “Given the Congress party’s steadily declining performance in Haryana, the party needs to introspect on today’s decision. Rahul Gandhi’s desire was to appoint a person with clean, unblemished, and youthful leadership as president of the Haryana Congress. However, today’s decision appears to be the exact opposite. This has led to a complete decline in the morale of party workers and cadre,” he wrote.
A six-time former MLA, Yadav was a prominent contender for the post. Meanwhile, former Hisar MP and Congress leader Brijendra Singh has announced plans to take out a “Sadbhav Yatra” from October 5 with the aim of ensuring social harmony in the state. The IAS officer-turned-politician said the yatra will begin from Danoda village in the Narwana assembly constituency in Jind on October 5. The father-son duo, along with Congress workers, will tour across 90 assembly segments over the next six to seven months, covering a distance of 2,600 to 2,800 kilometres.
During the padyatra, Singh, son of Congress veteran and former Union Minister Birender Singh, said national and regional issues will also be highlighted. He accused the ruling BJP of playing “divisive politics” and said that “sadbhav” (harmony) has come under stress in the past decade.
He added that he was inspired by Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and received permission from the central party leadership to carry out the yatra across the state. “The BJP is dividing people on the lines of caste, region, and religion. Our aim is to bridge this divide and spread brotherhood among people. We will also focus on state and national issues,” said Brijendra Singh.