Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
The nomination of Kumari Selja
for Rajya Sabha from Haryana has changed the factional equations in Haryana
Congress and is being seen as a setback for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda in the election year.
The sitting Lok Sabha MP from
Ambala also resigned from the Union Cabinet and is expected to be drafted for
party work — either as the Pradesh Congress President of Haryana or as a senior
functionary in the AICC Secretariat in Akbar Road ,
New Delhi
The double anti-incumbency in
Haryana — almost 10 years of UPA rule in the Centre and over 9 years of
Congress rule in the State — has severely dented the prospects of the party in
the state and it needed an immediate facelift before facing the electorate in
May for the Lok Sabha elections and then in November for the Assembly polls.
Even in 2009 Assembly polls, Congress under Hooda had barely scraped through
and could form Government only after breaking the Haryana Janhit Congress
Congress and winning over Independents.
Selja had been quite vocal
against Hooda in the fight for factional supremacy in the state Congress and
had repeatedly alleged that her constituency was neglected in development. It
was understood that had she contested the Lok Sabha polls, Hooda would have
gone all out to ensure her defeat to finish her politically. Sensing trouble in
the state unit, the central leadership quickly shifted her to the Upper House.
A dalit leader and a woman,
sources said 51-year- old Selja could be drafted as the PCC President to
replace the ineffective Phool Chand Mullana who had resigned over two years ago
after the party lost the Hissar bypolls. Mullana, also a dalit, is a camp
follower of Hooda and the chief minister was apparently lobbying for his
candidature for Rajya Sabha. Another contender for the post, Sirsa MP Ashok
Tanwar could also be drafted in AICC as he is close to party Vice-President
Rahul Gandhi.
Sources said that Selja’s name
was finalised by Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi
and she was informed about the decision and greater role for her in the
organisation. As she had won the 2009 polls narrowly and given the
anti-incumbency in the state, she gleefully accepted the offer. “Being a woman
and dalit was considered before making the choice,” a party leader said.
It is understood that Rahul
Gandhi also wants to create an alternative leadership in Haryana, parallel to
Hooda. Chaudhary Birender Singh, who too has been quite vocal against Hooda is
not trusted and does not fit the profile which Team Rahul wants. Birender Singh
was first removed from AICC as General Secretary and later at the last moment
his name was struck off the probable list of ministers in the Manmohan Singh
Cabinet.
In the last Lok Sabha polls,
Congress had won nine of the 10 seats in the state, a strike rate which was one
of the highest in the country. The lone seat won by the Opposition was by
Bhajan Lal at Hissar but he too was from a breakaway faction of the Congress.
“It is a dramatic shift,”
admitted a senior Congress leader on the nomination of Selja to the Rajya
Sabha. The party leaders are anticipating bigger role for her in the state unit
as PCC President but are apprehensive if that would be prudent given the antipathy
of the Hooda camp and loss of synergy between the Government and the
organisation in the election year.
Though relatively young, Selja
entered Lok Sabha way back in 1991 and was drafted as a Minister of state in
the PV Narasimha Rao Cabinet. What goes in her favour is a taint free image and
a silent worker besides being a woman and a dalit. (29
January 2014 )
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