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Journalism of Courage
Saying it was “unbelievable how badly we lost”, All India Congress Committee general secretary and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja has told The Indian Express that the party’s Haryana unit is to blame for the assembly poll debacle, and that “the entire team of so-called strategists kept everything in their own hands”.
“The state unit of the party failed to capitalise on the ground created by Rahul Gandhi ji. It is unbelievable how badly we lost,” she said, placing the blame for the poll drubbing on Haryana’s party affairs incharge Deepak Babaria, Pradesh Congress Committee president Udai Bhan, Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda.
On the intense factionalism within the Haryana Congress unit, which came to the fore during the last three weeks, during which Selja remained absent from the campaign, she said, “Then why did they not let me campaign? Why did they (the state unit) monopolise ticket distribution? Selja only kept quiet. What else could I have done? Or should I have laughed out then and there? The entire team of so-called strategists kept everything in their own hands. We (Selja, Randeep Surjewala and earlier Kiran Choudhry, before she quit Congress and joined the BJP) kept saying that the party workers were being ignored, but nothing happened. They (the party high command) called us, they heard us, we gave our choice of candidates, but they didn’t do anything. The result is here in front of everybody.”
Asked if she should also shoulder the blame for the factionalism within the Congress, Selja said, “It was an open thing that they don’t speak to me. He (Babaria) had been openly saying that he did not speak to me. He was also on their side. And, the great Dalit leader (Bhan), who was also on their side, also lost today.”
On factors that may have led to the Congress’s defeat, Selja, ostensibly referring to the Hoodas, said, “We failed to see what people were showing us. We only saw what a particular set of people were showing. If we had taken this seriously, if we had worked out things properly, the results would have been different today. Several party workers were propped up by them (the Hoodas) and assured party tickets. They all turned rebels during the polling. I mean, they might have not contested as independents or jumped to other parties, but they worked as rebels in their respective constituencies.”
Babaria, Bhan, Bhupinder Hooda and Deepender Hooda had spearheaded the party’s campaign in Haryana. Bhupinder had managed to get tickets for at least 72 candidates of his choice, many of whom lost.
“The farce of a strategists’ team that was created and eventually controlled by these people has shown the results today. Nobody asked Selja. Nobody heard me. Their own surveys, their assessments, their choice of candidates – everything went wrong. They should not have taken Haryana for granted. Even Jats voted against the Congress candidates and for the BJP. How do you explain this now?” Selja said.
Ever since the Congress party announced its list of candidates, Selja had been missing from the campaign scene. She did not campaign for nearly two weeks and was seen only on the party’s stage in Assandh when Rahul addressed his first rally in Haryana on September 26. From there too, she campaigned for only a handful of candidates before the campaigning came to an end on October 3.
After addressing public rallies in Assandh and Barwala, Rahul also held two road shows, approximately 100 km each covering more than 40 constituencies, and then addressed his final rally in Mahendragarh on October 3 – the last day of campaigning.
Not just Selja, the party’s other veteran leader, Kiran Choudhry, had also been accusing the Hoodas of monopolising and manipulating the party’s vision and strategy in Haryana. This was the prime reason for Kiran and her daughter Shruti quitting the party and joining the BJP. While Kiran was elected to the Rajya Sabha, her daughter Shruti Choudhry won from Tosham assembly constituency.
