Hoodaway or highway, ‘sulking’ Selja: what led to Congress’s stunning defeat in Haryana | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Congress has once again failed in a direct election battle with the BJP – this time in Haryana. The old party that was confident, rather overconfident, of winning the Haryana Assembly elections, on the basis of anti-incumbency against a decade of BJP rule, could win only 37 seats. The ruling BJP, on the other hand, created history by scoring a record hat-trick in the state. Led by the Prime Minister Nayab Singh Sainithe BJP has recorded its best ever performance in the state, winning 48 seats, one more than the 2014 tally.
What went wrong for Congress?
There could be many factors that led to the party’s dismal showing. However, perhaps one of the biggest reasons was factionalism within the state unit. The Congress leadership gave former Prime Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda complete control over the election strategy and campaign. In doing so, it mainly ignored the claims of other senior leaders of the state Kumari Seljaa prominent Dalit face of the Congress. Selja was clearly dissatisfied with Hooda’s dominance in ticket distribution and stayed away from the party campaign for most of the elections. The BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were quick to name the ‘sulking Selja’ to accuse the Congress of disrespecting the Dalits in the party. At one point, there were even reports of Selja ditching the Congress to join the BJP. However, Selja put aside these rumors and reaffirmed her loyalty to the old party after meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
But although Selja announced her intention to stay with the party, her presence in the campaign lacked energy and was limited to photo ops. The Congress high command did little to bridge this gap between the two top leaders. No wonder there were knives in Congress even before the final results were announced. Calling for introspection, Selja said in a strong message: “It will not be ‘business as usual’ after the disappointing loss.”
“The Haryana poll results are disappointing and I am pained by the disappointment of the Congress workers in the state, who worked very hard and were looking forward to forming their government after a decade. It will not be ‘business as usual’ in Haryana and I am also sure that the Congress high command will identify those who denied the attempts to bring the party to power after a decade,” Selja said in her first response.
In an apparent reference to Hooda’s dominance, Selja also referred to factors affecting the organization such as bringing everyone along and ensuring coordination among all leaders in the state.
This is not the first time that the Congress leadership has allowed state leaders to take full control during assembly elections and suffer in the process. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhatigarh and Rajasthan – the three states that the Congress lost to the BJP last year, the Congress leadership relied heavily on state leaders. In Madhya Pradesh, it was Kamal Nath who took the lead. He was the one who openly rejected the Samajwadi Party’s alliance request, leading to bitterness between the two parties. Fortunately for the Congress, Akhilesh Yadav was not vindictive when it came to the UP elections and the two parties were able to forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls and post impressive gains.
In Rajasthan, it was Ashok Gehlot who dominated all party decisions, from deciding tickets to planning strategy for the elections, much to the disappointment of Sachin Pilot. Sachin, who had rebelled against Gehlot, remained with the Congress after the high command’s intervention but could never gain full control over party affairs in the state.
Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, it was Bhupesh Baghel who was at the center of the Congress campaign. The Congress high command tried to tackle factionalism in the state unit by appointing his rival TS Singh Deo as deputy CM. But it was Baghel who dominated the Congress campaign in the state.
The Congress would do well to learn lessons from the Haryana ruling, especially when it comes to assembly elections. Having a strong state leadership is certainly an asset for parties, like Nayab Singh Saini was for the BJP in Haryana. But the BJP made a timely course correction and did not hesitate to remove the experienced Manohar Lal Khattar and field Saini to lead the party to the elections.
The Congress may have to take a leaf out of the BJP’s book and learn to bet on the winning horses. It could have at least persuaded Hooda to give more control to Selja in Haryana so that both the leaders and their supporters could have worked together to return the party to power in the state after a decade.