Second phase of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed in Haryana on January 10, 2023. Pertaining to this, the political experts of the opinion that the state Congress succeeded in making the yatra a successful conduct. Despite the huge gathering reported, the yatra could not bring the ongoing feud among the party stalwarts to an end which added to the woes of the party command. The scenario remains unchanged as the yatra could not unite the party leaders together. state.
Although, there was no war of words publically between the party leaders during the yatra and it is evident from the yatra tug of war between the party bigwigs continues to remain. Rahul Gandhi succeeded in conveying the message to the party leaders that if they remain united, the Congress is most likely to form the government in the state. Rahul Gandhi gave a piece of advice to veterans of Haryana Congress in Ambala saying that if the party leaders don’t unite, it would be an uphill task to form the government in Haryana in 2024. During the meeting KC Venugopal, Bhupender Hooda, Kumari Seleja, Randeep Singh Surjewala, party state president Uday Bhan and working presidents of the party were also present in the meeting.
It is a noticeable fact that Bhupender Singh Hooda holds the reins of the Haryana Congress entirely as his loyalist and state President Uday Bhan has the portfolio of the state party president and most of the party legislators support him. It is pertinent to mention that an aspect that remained in constant discussion during the yatra was that in comparison to Hooda, other stalwarts of the party did not get proper opportunity to speak or equal attention.
Notably, the party namely former party president Kumari Seleja, a Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala and Bhpender have been at loggerheads over a string of issues for a long time in the state and the situation remained unchanged during the yatra to some extent. In wake of this, the party high command had clearly directed all party leaders to maintain decorum and discipline ahead of the yatra.
The ongoing feud between Hooda and Kiran Chaudhary is evident from an incident that Hooda faction refrained itself from visiting Kiran Chaudhary after she was injured during second phase of Yatra and admitted in a private hospital while contrary to this Kumari Seleja and Randeep Surjewala visited her same day. To some extent, Yatra proved a nightmare for Kiran Chaudhary as she was not given much importance and neglected during the program held in Panipat. During the both phases of the yatra, Hooda’s supporters continuously raised slogans in his support and demonstrated their strength while the opposite faction left no stone unturned to prove their dominance but depicted a dull show as compared to Hooda.
Besides, it is worthy to state that Kumari Seleja was permitted to address gatherings in Ambala where she has won parliamentary elections twice from. Rahul Gandhi himself asked her to address the public during Yatra.