Unhappy with the distribution of tickets for the Haryana Assembly, senior leader and former Union minister, Kumari Selja has been sulking and refusing to take part in the campaign, if reports are to be believed. While her keeping away is not going to impact the prospects of the Congress, which is already in the pole position, yet this kind of conduct has apparently not gone down too well with the party High Command. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has already stated that she was a senior leader who was loyal to the party and thus understands what she is expected to do. This is being seen as a subtle way of conveying the Central leadership’s concern over Selja’s indifference. It is evident that Selja, who is considered close to the Gandhis, is nursing a grouse that her followers were denied tickets for the polls and thus it is her way of identifying herself with them. On Rahul Gandhi’s instructions, the Central Election Committee, had laid down the criteria for the nominee selection, where the foremost condition was winnability. In the end, when the tickets were distributed, it was clear that in 72 out of 89 seats which the Congress was contesting, candidates considered close to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, got the nod. In the 2019 polls, majority of nominees who were selected by the faction opposed to Hooda, lost the election and therefore this time, a conscious decision was taken that there could be no quotas that could be allotted to leaders, and only winnability and suitability to emerge victorious should be overriding. Hooda in his interviews to various TV channels has been underplaying the Selja and dissident factor, by claiming that everyone was working for the success of the party and there were no differences at all. This is obviously not accurate since Hooda is aware that there were some leaders within the Haryana Congress, who did not see eye to eye with his perspective and thus were trying to remain aloof from the campaign. Selja’s distancing is being seen in Congress circles as similar to that of senior leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1993 Delhi Assembly polls. Sajjan, was upset with the then Delhi Chief, HKL Bhagat, and accused him of playing politics to accommodate his son Deepak in the list, so as to deny tickets to other deserving nominees. He left the campaign midway and disappeared, thus causing immense concern in party circles since he was an influential leader with tremendous say in several parts of the city including his Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency which was at that time, the largest in the country with nearly 33 Lakh voters. Bhagat, made a public appeal to Sajjan to return and declared that he too was like his son. Although Sajjan did return, but the damage had been done, and the Congress was trounced by the BJP in the polls which saw Madan Lal Khurana becoming the first Chief Minister of the new Assembly. Lessons have obviously not been learnt from this episode and if Selja displays political maturity, it would be in her interest to participate in the campaign. And if despite her absence, the Congress wins, which it is likely to, she would be rendered irrelevant in State politics. Many years ago, when she had contested for the Lok Sabha from the Ambala seat, she won only because the lead obtained in Ambala City, then represented by Venod Sharma, former Minister, ensured that she covered up the losses she suffered in the remaining Assembly segments. The Congress High command should address this issue before it is too late and entrust some senior functionary to speak with Selja. Earlier it had been decided to give Kamal Nath, the key role of ensuring that factionalism did not impact the polls. However, the senior leader, who was once the general secretary incharge of the State, and had brought about a reconciliation between Selja and Hooda, is nowhere to be seen, and was till a couple of days ago in Chinddwara, which he represented nine times in the Lok Sabha and is a member of the Assembly from there. The party has appointed three observers—Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken and Partap Singh Bajwa—for the Haryana polls. They along with Deepak Babaria, the general secretary should be stepping in to streamline the situation. The Congress must also ensure that a proper response to various matters arising during the Jammu and Kashmir as well as Haryana elections should come from the media department which has been found lacking. In fact, there is a need to review the working of the media cell which normally speaking should always be headed by a highly political entity, well versed with the party’s ideology, programs and history. The BJP has been watching the developments in the Congress closely and though it has multiple problems of its own, it has not shied away from taking potshots at the grand old party. Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in order to create a wedge within the Congress ranks, made a statement suggesting that Selja could join the Saffron Brigade, which seemed only political with little basis to it. The Congress response to it was feeble as it said that Khattar himself wanted to join the Congress, which no one would ever believe. The BJP has been at pains to clarify that Nayeb Singh Saini was their CM face and reports regarding Anil Vij and Rao Inderjit’s claims were without any credible evidence. But in a political season, these things are bound to happen.
