As parliamentary polls draw near, the bigwigs from all parties have come in full swing in a bid to ensure political mileage. Considering their political gains as well as losses and political equations, the senior leaders are mulling over every possible strategy to win the upcoming battle as well as counter the opponents. In this context, citing the party’s inclusion in the India alliance, Ashok Tanwar bid a farewell and announced to join the saffron BJP which led to new political developments ahead of polls. It is pertinent to mention that he has met the Chief Minister Manohar Lal on January 9, the last date of filing nomination for Rajay Sabha elections. Since the AAP denied him a berth in Rajya Sabha on the party’s ticket which paved his path towards quitting the party on Thursday.
While being in Congress, he was counted among the strong leaders of the party and it is also important to mention here that in the last few years, many stalwarts from Haryana Congress bid goodbye to the party and joined BJP. Feud and differences with the Congress stalwart Bhupender Singh Hooda emerged as the common factor behind their departure from the party. Earlier, Union Minister of State and BJP leader Rao Inderjit was also counted among the veteran Congress leaders at a point of time, had left Congress citing neglect in the party and the changing ideology of the party. While being a Lok Sabha MP, Rao Inderjit had opened a front against Bhupendra Singh Hooda. The gap of differences between him and Hooda increased so much that he left the party. However, it is a different aspect that now he is feeling uncomfortable in BJP and every now and then his displeasure comes out in public. Notably, he had joined the BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Similarly, another Bigwigs Chaudhary Birendra Singh had also left Congress and joined hands with BJP following his political rivalry with Hooda. Birendra Singh never got along well with Hooda as a battle for supremacy continued between the two. At that time citing that Congress was merely Hooda’s Congress and his neglect in the party he said good bye to the party. Presently, more or less, the condition of Birendra Singh also looks like that of Rao Inderjit. Birendra Singh is not finding himself in a very pleasant situation in BJP. BJP is not paying much attention to his continuous demand to bring the alliance with JJP to an end.
In continuation to this, in the year 2022, a major development took place in the political corridors in Haryana Kuldeep Bishnoi also left Congress and later joined BJP. Following tussle with Hooda, he opted out to quit the party. At that time he was eyeing the post of President but Hooda succeeded in appointing his loyal Udaybhan on the post which annoyed Kuldeep led to widened rift between them. However, Kuldeep Bishnoi seems more powerful in BJP than Rao Inderjit and Chaudhary Birendra Singh.
On the lines of Kuldeep ahead, Tanwar left Congress in 2019 in view of his differences and a long tussle with Hooda. The situation between the two camps in Congress had worsened so much that on October 6, 2016, Hooda and Tanwar aides had a fierce fight among their supporters in Delhi. Accusing Hooda and his supporters of attacking him and misbehaviour, Tanwar supporters had also put pressure on the party high command to take action against Hooda supporters. Further, the rift between the two started before the 2014 assembly elections over ticket distribution. Tanwar had accused Hooda of not giving tickets to his supporters and this rift continued till Tanwar remained in the Congress.
Everyone is familiar with the fact that Hooda has a unilateral hold in Haryana Congress. In the year 2004, Congress government was formed in Haryana and Hooda remained CM for two consecutive terms. After the formation of BJP-led government in the year 2014, Congress witnessed a political exile from the power for around a decade.
Notably, After the departure of Rao Inderjit, Chaudhary Birendra Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Ashok Tanwar, now Hooda and the SRK faction i.e. Kumari Sailaja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary for supremacy in the party are at loggerheads in Haryana Congress.