Continuing internal rift between Haryana state Congress party senior leaders sees three of its stalwarts, Randeep Surjewala AICC General Secretary , Kumari Selja a former HPCC president and Kiran Choudhary MLA from Tosham going on since a long time although they claim no rift exists between them but it is an open fact that they have joined hands against former Chief Minister and leader of opposition in Haryana Vidhan Sabha Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Despite the efforts by recent appointment of new party president Deepak Babria the the internal conflict still seems to persist because three leaders feel themselves sidelined, have decided to unify their efforts to try and assert dominance in the race to the forthcoming 2024 polls in Haryana making a public display of their unity before the high command but it cannot be denied that faction in senior party leaders may prove harmful and weaken the party.
Needless to say that Hooda possesses strong influence in the state politics and it was only due to him Congress was able to get reasonable number of seats in Haryana during previous 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls and in case had alliance with would have been in power in the state today in-spite of ‘Modi wave’ all over in the country. The trio: Randeep Surjewala, Kumari Selja, and Kiran Choudhary were having their differences in the past also, but the dominance of Hooda’s faction has prompted them to join hand together to secure their appearance and political futures in the state, thus united against Hooda leaving aside previous differences in order to remain in power if the Congress return to power in Haryana after about a decade. Sources reveal that of the 30 Congress MLAs in Haryana, Hooda have the support of at least 25 or above MLAs . No doubt, Randeep Surjewala possesses significant influence at the party’s high command, Sonia Gandhi’s favorite Selja and Kiran Choudhary also enjoy the favour of the party’s high command, which also give high importance on Hooda and his MP son Deepender Singh Hooda. Congress high command is also aware that sidelining the Hooda faction could potentially weaken the party in Haryana and cannot be ignored at any cost at this stage.
During a recent press conference at Chandigarh Hooda strongly condemned ruling BJP-JJP alliance government in Haryana state saying that it completely failed to provide employment to youths as assured in their 2019 poll manifesto which has proved merely an Common Exploitation Test (CET) in which 11,72,000 youths appeared in examination for Group C posts, 72000 youths registered themselves for temporary jobs under Kaushal Rozgar Nigam and 10,40,000 youths got themselves registered for Group D posts only awaiting appointments since a long time. Referring to Hooda’s statement, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that Congress had offered jobs to nearly 82000 youths while ruling in the state for a decade whereas BJP has offered jobs to 1.10 lakh youths in past eight and half years.
