Congress is hoping to consolidate its support base among the non-Jats of Haryana with former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress formally merging with the party on Thursday.
The merger, a closely watched event was held at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence in New Delhi where she, vice president Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad, Haryana unit chief Ashok Tanwar, Haryana ClP leader Kiran Choudhry, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala were present.
However, former Chief Minister and party stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda skipped the event.
HJC was floated by Bishnoi’s father Bhajan lal in 2007 after parting ways with the Congress as he was miffed at being sidelined by the party which preferred Jat leader Hooda as the Chief Minister in 2005.
With HJC merging with Congress, political circles are now abuzz with speculation over how the Hooda camp will react to Congress party’s move of raising Bishnoi as a parallel non-Jat force in the state. The merger is seen as the emergence of new power centre in already divided Congress in Haryana and it remains to be seen how the senior leaders respond to this move.
At present, the party State unit is struggling due to infighting between a faction headed by state Congress chief Tanwar and other faction led by Hooda.
The merger of HJC with the Congress also comes in the backdrop of a violent Jat quota stir that has widened the caste divide in the state. Also, Hooda is facing the heat after his former political advisor Professor Virender, was arrested for allegedly inciting violence during the Jat agitation.
The arrest comes at a time when Hooda, who served for two terms as State Chief Minister, is trying to make a comeback in the party after a dismal performance in 2014 lok Sabha and assembly polls under his leadership in Haryana.
While the Congress managed to win just one of the 10 lok Sabha seats, it came third with mere 15 seats in state assembly polls in 2014. On the other hand, Bishnoi’s HJC has two MlAs in the State Assembly. He represents his father’s traditional Adamapur seat of Hisar while his wife, Renuka Bishnoi represents Hansi.
AICC general secretary in-charge for the State Shakeel Ahmad played down the absence of Hooda at the event, saying that he was also in favour of the merger. Hooda had an important appointment so he could not come, he added.