Bhupinder Hooda comes under more fire as Congress high command tries to delay fuse

However, having tasted unexpected defeat and conceded a significant boost to the BJP ahead of two approaching Assembly elections, a section in the party expressed impatience with the committee route, with several calling for an end to “excessive focus” on EVMs and seeking concentration on “the real reasons” for the defeat.

On Thursday, the meeting held by the Congress to take stock of the Haryana results included president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, apart from AICC observers Ashok Gehlot and Ajay Maken, and AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal. The Congress’s Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria attended virtually. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who ran the party’s campaign in Haryana, was expected to join the meeting, but as per sources, was not invited after being asked to be present in Delhi.

Sources said that a furious high command pulled up those involved in the Haryana campaign, especially over allegations of internal sabotage in several seats.

On the ground, more Congress leaders, including candidates who lost, came out in the open against Hooda, his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, as well as the top leadership. The main accusation being made against the Hoodas is their alleged support to Congress rebels, many of them close to Bhupinder Hooda, who cut into the votes of the party’s official candidates. Two Congress candidates said Gandhi was “misled”.

Congress OBC wing chairman Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, whose son Chiranjeev Rao lost from Rewari, said his post had been reduced to little more than a “jhunjhuna (a toy)”. Rewari, won by Yadav five times, was seen as an easy seat for Chiranjeev. An angry Yadav questioned why no one from South Haryana, to which he belongs and where the Yadavs are concentrated, figured in party panels such as the Congress Working Committee, Congress Election Committee, or the PCC.

“The result is that we got wiped out in the districts of Gurgaon, Mahendragarh, Rewari and Faridabad… If you don’t bring OBCs into the mainstream within the party, it sends the wrong message,” Yadav said, adding that even his photograph was missing from party posters. “What kind of an OBC wing chairman have you made me?”

The fact that the candidate for whom Gandhi campaigned, in his first rally for Haryana polls, also lost is another result that has come under the spotlight.

In the rally, Gandhi had appealed for votes for the Congress Assandh candidate, Shamsher Singh Gogi, specifically, apart from others across the state. Gogi, a former Assandh MLA, lost to the BJP’s Yoginder Singh Rana by 2,306 votes. Congress rebel Zile Ram Sharma, who contested as an Independent, got 16,302 votes.

On Thursday, Gogi said: “It is not the defeat of the Congress. It is the defeat of the Hooda Congress. Polarisation was another major factor. The state leadership did not like how Rahul Gandhi came straight to Assandh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not even take my name from the stage. His supporters then made it a narrative that Hooda Saheb did not seek votes for Gogi, which proved a major factor in my defeat… The Hooda Congress… did not take anybody else into confidence… People had made up their mind to elect the Congress this time. Apne paun par khud kulhari maari inhone (It is a self-goal).”

Gogi added: “Had the Congress won, Bapu-Beta (Hooda and son) would have worn the crown. Now the responsibility of the defeat is also on them. Bapu-Beta should take the entire responsibility.”

Another losing candidate of the Congress, Parvinder Singh Pari, lashed out Thursday. He finished a distant third in Ambala Cantonment, after the BJP’s Anil Vij and Congress rebel Chitra Sarwara. While Pari got 14,469 votes, Sarwara secured 52,581.

Pari said: “Strenuous efforts were made by the Hoodas, especially Deepender Hooda, to placate the rebels. In the neighbouring Ambala City seat, from where Chitra Sarwara’s father Nirmal Singh contested, three rebels were made to step down by Deepender. From Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa came and pacified them. The party high command also sent people from Delhi. But nobody visited Ambala Cantt. Instead, (Congress) supporters were intimidated and asked to support her (Sarwara). As a result, I lost.”

Pari said the state unit had also misled Gandhi during the road shows he held ahead of the polling in Haryana. “Congress party workers and I received him at Saha Chowk. We told Rahul ji that the spot was part of the Mullana Assembly seat and not Ambala Cantt, that our constituency was 16 km away. He was shocked because he was given the wrong impression.”

Gogi said he would put forth his views as and when called by the party high command. “There should be a complete overhaul of the Congress state unit. The current dispensation has already lost.”

While both Gogi and Pari are seen as belonging to the camp of Hooda’s rival Kumari Selja, some of the candidates she pushed and campaigned for did win. They include Chander Mohan in Panchkula, Shalley Chaudhary in Naraingarh, Renu Bala in Sadhaura, and Balwan Singh Doulatpuria in Fatehabad.

The committee, announced at the meeting held in Delhi by the high command to discuss the results, will now be meeting every Congress candidate and analyse the data down to the booth level. “It will give a chance to candidates to talk about what they feel went wrong, in a safe space,” said a source.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Maken said there were many reasons for the Congress defeat in Haryana. “An assessment was done. Reasons ranging from EC issues to internal disputes were discussed.”

It is not the first time that Congress leaders are hearing about a committee to discuss the party’s performance after a poor showing, whether under Sonia Gandhi or Mallikarjun Kharge. The reports of these panels, barring one, have never seen the light of day, neither shared with the top leadership nor discussed in any forum. It is also not known whether any of the suggestions made or corrective steps recommended by these panels were ever implemented.