After the party’s crushing defeat in Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked the senior leaders of faction-ridden Haryana state party unit to work unitedly for the forthcoming State Assembly polls, due to be held later this year.
Rahul Gandhi held a crucial meeting of Haryana state coordination committee in New Delhi to discuss the strategy for the upcoming election.
This was the first meeting of state coordination committee held by the party chief, even as suspense prevails over his exit from the top post in Congress. In the past, such meetings were presided over by Ghulam Nabi Azad, incharge of Haryana’s party affairs.
During the meeting, discussion was held on how to strengthen the Congress at grassroot level and give a tough fight to BJP, which has announced “Mission 75” in Haryana.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Haryana state party chief Ashok Tanwar, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son Deepender Singh Hooda, former Minister Capt. Ajay Yadav among others were present at the meeting,
However, the CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Naveen Jindal gave a miss to the meeting.
Post- Lok Sabha defeat, the factionalism and infighting is raging in the Haryana Congress party unit and may harm the party’s poll prospects in State Assembly polls.
In Haryana, there has been no district level or block level committees for last several years while the differences between Ashok Tanwar and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda have come out in the open several times now.
After the meeting, former Minister Capt. Ajay Yadav, while talking to the mediapersons said that the Congress chief has asked the party leaders to unite and strengthen the party at grassroot level for assembly elections, which is barely a few months away.
When asked whether any talks related to differences and factionalism were held in the meeting, Yadav said that no such discussion took place and Rahul asked the party leaders to unite for the elections.
Differences have always been there in the party but now the focus is on the upcoming elections, he added
It was deliberated upon how the organizational structure at the grassroot level can be strengthened ahead of the elections, he further said.
Even though the political circles in Congress are abuzz with the speculations of a change in state party leadership ahead of upcoming polls, there was no such indication after the meeting.
Recently, several Congress leaders had said that the party high command is likely to appoint a new state party chief and atleast two –three working presidents in Haryana Congress. Name of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja and Congress in-charge of communications Randeep Singh Surjewala are doing the rounds for the top post.
The Congress is also likely to soon announce the name of Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 48 MLAs while the Congress has 17 MLAs.
Notably, the Congress had failed to win even a single seat out of a total of 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana in the recently concluded parliamentary polls. To make things worse, it also ceded the Rohtak seat, where in 2014 Deepender Hooda had managed to buck the Narendra Modi wave.
Following party’s humiliating defeat, the internal bickering in Haryana Congress had came out in the open at a meeting called by Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi recently. The MLAs loyal to Hooda had pressed for a leadership change in Haryana and had mentioned how the party has lost last three polls – Lok Sabha and assembly elections in 2014 and the recent general elections – under Ashok Tanwar’s leadership.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda had lost the Lok Sabha poll which he contested from Sonepat sea and had blamed “weak organizational structure” in Haryana for the defeat in Lok Sabha polls.
Ashok Tanwar had also lost the Lok Sabha polls from Sirsa (reserved) seat.