RS elections: Hooda, Bishnoi meet Rahul

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 7

There is still no clarity over the Congress strategy for the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections from Haryana even as party vice-president Rahul Gandhi today held discussions with senior leaders from the state. Rahul today first met former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and then Kuldeep Bishnoi, who recently merged the Haryana Janhit Congress with the Congress.

The Tribune has learnt that a majority of the Congress MLAs from Haryana are in favour of abstaining from the June 11 voting. They are arguing that since the Congress does not have the numbers for getting its own candidate elected, it should not get into supporting anyone.

The dilemma for the Congress is – whether it should vote for the INLD-backed Independent nominee RK Anand and prevent BJP-backed independent candidate Subhash Chandra from winning or abstain from the vote which will mean letting Chandra win. A senior Congress MLA today said: “Ideally the Congress should have fielded its own Independent candidate, any renowned person like Saina Nehwal, and forced its rivals to back the nominee. But now, we are not in that position. We have 17 MLAs but the point is – voting with the INLD for Anand or abstaining from it will have political consequences. The party high command has to decide.”

Congress leaders from Haryana feel the Chautalas of INLD are playing a double game and must be exposed. “The INLD appears to be working to benefit the BJP. The INLD has always voted alongside the the BJP even in the Lok Sabha. That is why even though the INLD has backed RK Anand as its nominee it is doing everything possible to antagonise the Congress and push it away from voting by saying it does not need Congress support. The fact is: even the INLD knows that without Congress support Anand cannot win. So what game is the INLD playing?” asks a senior Haryana Congress leader.

The party continues to be in a fix over the RS election with reports that Chandra has been trying to engage Rahul through SP leader Amar Singh. A Congress leader today said: “Subhash Chandra is a man who was once very close to former PM Rajiv Gandhi. The two then fell out with Chandra later acknowledging that going against Rajiv Gandhi was a mistake. Now people have changed their preferences. That happens in politics. In any case, were Subhash Chandra to seek help from Gandhis, he need not come through Amar Singh.”