RK Anand’s defeat exposes Congress weakness
At a time when the Congress is facing an existential crisis from Maharashtra to Arunachal Pradesh, the defeat of RK Anand, the party-backed candidate, in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha poll in Haryana, exposes the deep schism in the State leadership. At this juncture, the Congress is facing helplessness since its top leadership has not been able to decide as how to justify the continued relevance of the ‘Gandhi family' against the Modi-Shah juggernaut across the country. When it comes to the Congress in Haryana, first of all Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a senior party leader and former Chief Minister of the State, has been posing challenge to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Ashok Tanwar from the beginning.
Therefore, the party should have taken precaution sensing either a cross voting or a silent revolt from the MlAs belonging to the Hooda camp sabotaging the Rajya Sabha poll. Also, the party should have cautiously read the age-old animosity between the Congress and Indian National lok Dal (INlD) before forging an understanding for a joint candidate. It is felt across the political spectrum in Haryana that a leader like Hooda can never approve of an electoral alliance with the INlD. Further, as Hooda is facing a lot many charges including the cases related to the last Jat quota agitation, so it is natural that he has played the spoil sport and helped the BJP-backed candidate to win.
The apparent faux pas played by Hooda may well indicate his intention to get temporary relief from the current enquiry against him. The façade of events that has led to the confusion in the Rajya Sabha poll in Haryana indicates that either Hooda or some MlAs belonging to the Congress had a master plan to defeat the party backed candidate. This is the state of affairs in the Congress in Haryana which reflects how Tanwar has not been able to enforce his diktats over party MlAs despite being PCC chief. Even during the last Assembly election, both Hooda and Tanwar were fighting tickets for their own nominees and finally, the former prevailed.
This Rajya Sabha election in Haryana has exposed how Hooda is sinking deep in a mess created by him in the past. Increasingly becoming frustrated and impatient, first after losing the Assembly poll last year and most importantly, for making him serve under much younger PCC boss like Tanwar, Hooda is now up in arms against the Congress top brass. Now the party high command at 10 Janpath is in a fix — president Sonia Gandhi can neither out rightly take any action against Hooda who is an old war horse nor can she afford to fire Tanwar, who is a staunch supporter of her son, heir and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
As Rajya Sabha is regarded as the House of Elders and a federal chamber, it has an accountability to work for the unity and integrity of the nation which in turn would reinforce the faith of the people in parliamentary democracy. The current narratives, commentaries and malpractices that the country has witnessed, in regard to the election of Rajya Sabha members, is hardly raising any sign of its glorious root. It's sad that barring a few members, the Upper House has become a haven for the retired and the corrupt who make no efforts to raise the standard of debate in the House or check the ruling dispensation.