At meet with Rahul, Congress leaders from Haryana call for change in state unit

Sources said Hooda’s son and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda argued that it was time for a leadership change in Haryana. He told the meeting that the party should elicit the opinion of its MLAs and conduct a survey to ascertain who has the support of both the leaders and the cadre.

Most of the party’s 31 MLAs in the state are known to be loyal to Bhupinder Hooda.

Sources said Randeep Surjewala pointed out that might is not always right, a remark which some leaders felt was aimed at the Hoodas.

Former CM Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi, on the other hand, is learnt to have pitched himself for the top post, saying he was a strong non-Jat leader. He also referred to the contributions of his late father.

The meeting was attended by AICC in-charge of Haryana Vivek Bansal, Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja and senior party leaders including Kiran Choudhry and Captain Ajay Yadav, who was recently appointed as head of AICC’s OBC department.

Speaking to The Indian Express after the meeting, Bhupinder Hooda said, “The crux of the meeting is that everybody has been asked to remain united and fight the next elections wholeheartedly, and as a united force. Everybody who participated in the meeting put forth their viewpoints that were heard and discussed. There can be differences of opinion among the party’s leaders, but there is no difference of heart. We shall remain united and contest the next elections”.

Sources said Rahul told the leaders that they would have to accept “collective responsibility” and contest the elections as a “collective leadership”.

“In the wake of the current political scenario, Rahul Gandhi had called this meeting of the party’s Haryana unit’s top leadership. Everybody gave their viewpoints. Eventually, it was decided that the party’s entire leadership should go all out, collectively, against the BJP and raise the voice of people of the state, inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha…,” Bansal said.