Rajesh Ahuja Chandigarh: The process of churning is hardly ever pleasant and this is true of the present-day political scenario in poll-bound Haryana. The Election Commission of India is likely to hold the polls in the state come October, probably on a date some time between the festivals of Dussehra (October 3) and Diwali (October 23) as per available indications. The term of the existing 90-member State Assembly expires on October 27. However, insiders say the polls could even be held as early as next month. The “disarray” in the ruling Congress has intensified further with hardening of stands between “loyalists” of two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is now eyeing a third term on the plank of development and for “transforming Haryana into the Number One state” that he has been talking about for long, and the party dissidents led by Rajya Sabha MPs Kumari Selja and Birender Singh. It is now crystal clear that Birender Singh, a veteran Congress leader and grandson of the legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, will be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kaithal later this month at a function which would be addressed by BJP president Amit Shah and, if one is to believe Birender Singh’s supporters, several prominent Congress leaders, including ministers, could join the saffron party as well. I have been saying throughout that Birender Singh, who still carries considerable clout not only among Jats but the non-Jats too because of his “no-nonsense” approach and managerial acumen, has been denied “justice” in the Congress despite his virtual seniority. The late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had appointed Birender Singh as the party chief in Haryana in the early 1990s after the Congress was decimated by the Devi Lal clan. Under Birender Singh’s leadership the Congress regained power in 1991 but Bhajan Lal pipped him to the Chief Minister’s gaddi due to changed scenario after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. And in March 2005, Bhupinder Singh Hooda pipped both Bhajan Lal and Birender Singh by becoming the CM. Birender was technically out of the race in 2009 as he was defeated by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo and former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala by a very thin margin in the Uchana Kalan constituency. Last year, Birender Singh, then a Rajya Sabha MP, was about to be accommodated in the Manmohan Singh-led Union Cabinet but was left out at the last minute. He has been openly blaming his cousin Bhupinder Singh Hooda for this turn of events. No doubt, he had been sulking and became all the more vociferous after the Congress won only one out of ten seats from the state in the Lok Sabha polls and that too of Hooda’s son Deepender Singh. He had been demanding change of leadership if the Congress was to regain lost ground in the Assembly polls in the context of a hitherto new phenomenon of an aggressive and resurgent BJP. However, his viewpoint was turned down outright by the Congress high command — read Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi — who reposed their faith in Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress unit chief Ashok Tanwar, who incidentally lost the Sirsa parliamentary seat. The parting of ways became inevitable and the Congress leadership instead of placating Birender Singh turned the ante upon him by expelling him from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) just for meeting Amit Shah! This was the last straw and Birender Singh formally announced his decision to join the BJP. According to political observers, Congressmen in Haryana are “divided” over the issue of taking the plunge along with Birender Singh and jumping on to the BJP bandwagon or remaining with a “sinking ship”. They are also speculating whether other so-called dissidents like Selja and another prominent woman leader of Bhiwani would also join the BJP but this does not seem likely. Even Birender Singh recently turned emotional and nostalgic while talking to his supporters about sundering his 42-year-old ties with the Congress. It is a difficult Hamletian dilemma for any leader, it is being said. In a related development, former Lok Sabha MP from Faridabad Avtar Singh Bhadana has resigned from the Congress citing dissatisfaction over the manner in which the party is functioning in Haryana under Hooda’s stewardship. A prominent Gujjar leader, Bhadana has submitted his resignation to Sonia Gandhi. Having lost the last Lok Sabha election to BJP’s Krishan Pal Gujjar, he has blamed Hooda and another Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal for his defeat. There is a likelihood of his joining the Indian National Lok Dal. Interestingly, senior Congressman Venod Sharma, who parted company with Hooda and the Congress earlier this year alleging “discrimination” against Brahmins and meritorious students in getting selected for jobs at the time of “interviews”, has announced that his newly set-up Jan Chetna Party would contest the polls. Former Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda, who is out on bail in the infamous Geetika suicide case, has also floated his own political outfit Haryana Lokhit Party. A section of BJP leaders are happy that the party’s prospects could receive a much-needed shot in the arm in the days ahead, especially in the Jat belt with Birender Singh’s entry. The BJP in Haryana has basically remained confined to the urban areas and in the past virtually played second fiddle to other Jat-dominated parties like the erstwhile Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) and the INLD. Its fortune turned in the Lok Sabha polls thanks to Narendra Modi when it won seven seats. And the issue of who would be the Chief Minister can be decided later if the party is able to set up shop in Haryana. It is being said that Birender could be given a Rajya Sabha seat or even made a Central Minister. With the tie-up with Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress virtually over (only a formal announcement has to be made), the BJP strategists are also keeping a close watch on the internal rumblings in a close-knit party like the Indian National Lok Dal after Abhey Singh Chautala announced the first list of 62 out of 90 candidates as well as a tie-up with the Shiromani Akali Dal which would contest two seats. Several INLD leaders who have been denied election tickets are believed to be making a beeline for the BJP. According to Haryana-watchers, Kuldeep Bishnoi should show maturity and contest all the seats on his own and prove his political acumen and mettle. There is speculation that he may enter into an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Likewise, they say that it may be too premature for the BJP to bank upon “defections” from the Congress, the INLD or the HJC for that matter. According to INLD insiders, party supremo Om Parkash Chautala, despite his being in jail serving a 10-years sentence in the teachers’ recruitment scam, still wields the stick and his party men may accept the changed realities. There are reports that, bowing to pressure, the INLD may change the nominees for at least five seats.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 16:56:24 +0000
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