Surjewala, Selja, Kiran Choudhry come together for united challenge to Hooda in Haryana Cong

Sources told The Indian Express that as AICC in-charge of Karnataka, Surjewala had impressed the party high command with the victory in the southern state. The other two — veteran Congress leader and Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry, and former MP and former state PCC president Kumari Selja, who is also the current AICC in-charge of Chhattisgarh — are considered among the strongest women leaders in Haryana Congress.

All three have started touring the state without any formal clearance from Hooda or Bhan. They are also rarely seen at the party’s state unit meetings called either by Hooda as the CLP leader or Bhan as the PCC president.

As of now, Hooda appears to enjoy the support of most of the party’s MLAs, with at least 24 of the 30 his staunch supporters. In contrast, while he might be basking in the Karnataka Congress win, Surjewala’s own electoral record is nothing to write home about. Having lost a 2019 Assembly bypoll from Jind — which he blamed on own party leaders “not supporting” him — he had lost his home Assembly constituency of Kaithal by a narrow margin of just over 1,200 votes to the BJP’s Leela Ram, in October the same year.

In a recent media interview, Surjewala termed his differences with Hooda as “competition within the party”, adding that there was “nothing wrong in the same”. He also added that he would always abide by the decisions of the party high command.

On Tuesday, the three leaders lashed out at the BJP-JJP government on various issues, including unemployment, corruption, farm crisis, etc.

Close aides of Surjewala later claimed that there was a feeling among party workers that Hooda was not being “as aggressive as he should be as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP)”. “That’s why other party leaders are being forced to stand up and highlight the failures of the ruling coalition,” one of them said.

Another Congress leader added, “He [Bhupinder Hooda] is too busy promoting near and dear ones, especially his own son, and has been ignoring the interests of the party as well as of other senior leaders.”

On June 24, when Deepak Babaria convened the first meeting of Haryana Congress leaders after being appointed state in-charge, it had turned into a stormy affair, with infighting among top leaders. Selja had exited the meeting mid-way.

At the meeting, Deepender Hooda had presented what he called a “charter of the Congress party’s vision”, with Selja reacting strongly saying that since it was not the Congress manifesto, any such “vision” could only be formulated by a manifesto committee and released formally by the party. Choudhry too had objected to Deepender’s “charter” — which was essentially a list of the promises the Hoodas have been making in their ongoing state-wide campaigns, named ‘Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh’ and ‘Haath Se Haath Jodo’.

Surjewala, Selja and Choudhry have been conspicuously absent from all such programmes.

Sources close to the three leaders said that in the coming months, all three shall be more visible not only in their respective constituencies but across the state. “This is being done to make grassroots workers realise the party is bigger than Bhupinder Hooda, that each one of them is important for the party, and those who are not his loyalists shall also be heard,” a senior Congress leader said.

Talking to The Indian Express on the fighting within the Haryana Congress, Babaria said, “I have been in the Congress a long time. I understand the party leaders’ aspirations, their psychology and their frustrations. All such issues shall be redressed by way of increasing communication within the party.”

Party insiders acknowledged that the infighting had delayed the finalisation of the party ground-level cadres for the 2024 elections. “Once the office-bearers for the state Congress unit are announced, there will be new district presidents. Any skew in the number of district presidents, whether in favour of Hooda loyalists or in favour of his detractors, would potentially lead to further confrontation, which the party high command wants to avoid at this stage,” a leader said.

Without naming Hooda Senior or his son, Selja had said a few days ago: “Individuals announcing poll promises or promising election tickets is not the Congress party’s culture. What if I start doing the same? There has to be discipline within the party. Only the party’s election manifesto committee can announce poll promises. Only the party high command can announce election tickets to its workers.”

Incidentally, the next event in Hooda’s Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh programme is scheduled in Choudhry’s stronghold, Bhiwani. And so far, she hasn’t been invited to it.