With emerging victorious on 47 seats as well as getting absolute majority , the saffron Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been succeeded in forming the government in Haryana for the third time in a row and after this the first session of the Assembly was held in which the Pro-tem speaker administered oath to newly appointed Speaker, Deputy Speaker and MLA’s . On the other hand, the BJP was continuously attacking the Congress by saying that the party has elected immediately within two hours but the Congress could not choose its Leader of Opposition. The BJP is directly attacking the Congress for this internal rift. The leader of the legislative party has not been selected by the Congress high command yet. While the Congress party is continuously deliberating on the defeat, the leaders of the opposing camps of the party are also eyeball to eyeball regarding the post of the Leader of legislative party.
Taking a jibe at the Congress while taking to the media persons after the marathon in Panipat saini, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said that «You people find the leader of opposition of Congress» This is the first time in two decades in the political history of Haryana that any party has failed to finalize the name of the leader of opposition in the state and is still mulling after more than a period of three weeks. The main reason for this is the continuous defeat of Congress in the last 3 elections. In the year 2009, Congress emerged as the largest party but fell short of majority and now after the third consecutive defeat, the party has to brainstorm. At that time, for the second time, Congress failed to get a full majority, then Congress had to form the government with the support of MLA›s who contested the polls on the ticket of Haryana Janhit Congress and independent MLA›s. In such a situation, the anti- Bhupender Singh Hooda camp became active in Haryana and now the situation is such that even the high command itself is not seen standing with Hooda. It is pertinent to mention that in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2019, the Leader of Opposition was elected within about two weeks after the election results. The Congress which dreamt of forming the government in 2024, could get just 37 seats. After this, there was a ruckus over the name of the Leader of Opposition and 4 observers appointed by the party high command to brainstorm pertaining to the same but despite this, the name of the Leader of Opposition has not been announced yet.
In Haryana, Congress lost the election for the third time in a row under Hooda›s leadership and his political position in the party has become weaker than before, but in this context, political experts believe that Bhupendra Singh Hooda is still a strong contender for this post. As of now, the Congress high command has not taken any decision regarding these posts, but it is also believed that Hooda may be retained on the post.
After the debacle of the Congress in the assembly elections, the party president Mallika Arjun Kharge has formed a fact finding committee to find the factors responsible for its defeat.
of three leaders under the chairman former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot. Along with him, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa and senior leader Ajay Maken have been included as members. These three leaders will also be present in the meeting of the Legislative Party. The decision on the leader of the Congress Legislative Party will be taken in their presence. Former CM Bhupendra Singh Hooda was the leader of the Legislative Party and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly for the last five years.
In continuation to aforementioned, it is believed that three leaders former Speaker Ashok Arora, former Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal and former Deputy CM Chandramohan Bishnoi, elder son of former Chief Minister Choudhary Bhajanlal are in the fray for the post of Leader of Opposition. Ashok Arora and Geeta Bhukkal are counted among the confidants of Hooda while Chandramohan Bishnoi is considered to be close to former Union Minister and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja. It is also being said that the name of Chandramohan Bishnoi has been put forward by Selja for the post of CLP leader.
Ashok Arora, who won the Assembly polls by defeating Urban Local Bodies Minister Subhash Sudha in the Nayab Singh Saini-led government from Thanesar, has been the Speaker of the Assembly apart from being a Cabinet Minister in the state government. It is believed that Congress can play the non-Jat card and bet on Arora this time. Ashok Arora whi hails from the Punjabi community, has been active in Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for a long time.
He also held the post of the state president of INLD. Many years ago, he quit the INLD and joined Congress under the leadership of Bhupendra Singh Hooda.
