New Delhi: The Congress is trying to balance caste equations ahead of finalizing a new team in Haryana. Though the general consensus is to go by the traditional Jat and non-Jat formula under which the two key posts of Pradesh Congress Committee president and Congress Legislative Party leader are shared between leaders from the two communities.
“The party high command is seized of the matter. We are discussing various formulations. Though the traditional Jat and non-Jat arrangement is on the table, we are also considering out of the box solutions,” AICC in-charge of Haryana Vivek Bansal told ETV Bharat. “The decision on the new team will be made public soon,” he said. At present, former chief minister and Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the CLP leader while Kumari Selja, a Dalit leader, is the PCC chief.
Selja was appointed as the state unit chief when former PCC chief Ashok Tanwar, also a Dalit leader, had quit the party just before the 2019 assembly elections. In May of the same year, the Congress could not win a single parliamentary seat out of the total 10 in the state during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The poor show in the national elections had led to a bitter power struggle as the Hooda camp blamed Tanwar for the discouraging results.
In the 2019 Haryana assembly polls, Hooda led the party but could not defeat the BJP. The Congress could win only 32/90 assembly seats. Hooda then became the Leader of the Opposition. The AICC managers are concerned that both Hooda and Kumari Selja have not been able to work together as a team and are therefore trying to install a new team in the northern state.
According to sources, Hooda wants to be made the PCC chief and wants the Congress MLAs to elect a new CLP leader. But the AICC is aware that the majority of the 32 MLAs are supporters of Hooda and may choose one of his nominees as leader of the party in the assembly. This arrangement may appear to be fine but would not balance the caste equations, the sources said.
Talking about another formulation, a senior AICC functionary said on condition of anonymity that in case Hooda remained the CLP leader, the high command would have to choose a non-Jat leader as the new PCC chief to balance caste equations. This is needed to give adequate representation to the Dalits, OBCs and minorities in the state. Some of the non-Jat leaders being considered for the state unit chief include Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, Rao Dan Singh and Uday Bhan.
After Bishnoi recently met party chief Sonia Gandhi, senior leaders AK Antony, Ambika Soni and KC Venugopal discussed the issue with Hooda on Saturday. Hooda had also met Rahul Gandhi last month.
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