​Haryana Cong tussle premieres in pink on US shores: Deepender Hooda turns up by Rahul Gandhi’s side

Deepender tweeted the pictures in which he is making Rahul wear the pink turban.  (Twitter/ @DeependerSHooda)To mark his presence at a Rahul Gandhi event involving the Indian diaspora in New York, Deepender even managed to make Rahul wear a turban, that too a pink one – the colour-coded headgear associated with Hoodas, who ask their supporters to wear pink turbans at their events and shows.

Deepender tweeted the pictures in which he is making Rahul wear the pink turban. Rahul addressed a gathering at Jacob Javits Center in New York on June 4, the last event during his three-city, six-day US-tour. Ahead of Rahul’s interaction with the Indian diaspora, Deepender tweeted several pictures and videos, showing preparations involving him for the former’s event.

Deepender also tweeted his photo with Rahul from Roosevelt House in New York. A couple of days earlier, he attended a gathering of the NRIs in New Jersey to urge them to participate in Rahul’s New York event.

In April 2015, various state units of the Congress held a rally in New Delhi to mark Rahul’s return after his 56-day-long break. At that time, Bhupinder Hooda was facing stiff competition in the one-upmanship game from the then Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, then LoP Kiran Choudhry and Captain Ajay Singh Yadav.

Ahead of this rally, Deepender held a meeting with the party leaders, MLAs and workers affiliated to their faction and asked them to participate in it wearing pink turbans as a mark of support for Bhupinder. Reacting to Hoodas’ call, Tanwar asked his supporters to wear Gandhi cap at the rally.

In September 2016, the Congress held a Kisan Samman rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, where Hoodas’ supporters allegedly assaulted Tanwar that resulted in his hospitalisation. At that meeting, while the members of the Hooda camp wore pink turbans, Tanwar’s supporters wore red turbans.

In the faction-ridden Haryana Congress, colour-coded headgear are used by different factions to project their respective strengths to the high command.

While Hooda’s followers are identified by their pink turbans, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala’s supporters are usually in beige-coloured turbans at public events.

During ther stints with the Congress, Kuldeep Bishnoi’s followers used to wear yellow turbans while Tanwar’s supporters wore either red or white headgear.

“Making Rahul Gandhi wear a pink turban is nothing but an attempt to show their loyalists and supporters and even their detractors that he (Rahul)

is on their (Hoodas’) side. Although, during Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, every Congress worker participated in it and walked with him, it was Bhupinder Hooda and Deepender Hooda who stole the show during its Haryana leg by mobilising huge crowds,” a senior Congress leader said.

Their rival camps however brushed aside such claims. “He (Rahul) wouldn’t have even known what colour turban he was wearing. It may give them (Hoodas) some self-satisfaction, but the time will tell what is going to happen in the coming months. It is up to the party high command to declare who would be the chief ministerial candidate in Haryana. Making our leaders wear pink-coloured turban wouldn’t get them anything,” said one of Hooda’s detractors.

While Surjewala has been basking in the party’s resounding victory in the recent Karnataka Assembly polls, Kiran Choudhry and Kumari Selja have also begun touring the state beyond their respective strongholds of Bhiwani and Ambala.

Party sources told The Indian Express that these three leaders, who are known Hooda rivals, are going to launch extensive public outreach in the state in the coming days. All of them have been maintaining distance not only from the Hooda-led party programmes, but even from the CLP meetings.

Bhupinder Hooda is however backed by state party chief Udai Bhan, who is known as one of his staunch supporters. Even the AICC in-charge of Haryana, Shaktisinh Gohil, is said to favour Bhupinder Hooda.

It is another matter that Hooda’s Congress rivals, including Surjewala, Choudhry, Selja and Capt Ajay would not let the leadership race for the 2024 polls be a cakewalk for the former.