‘Hooda ki sarkar’ remark miffs Haryana ex-CM’s detractors

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, September 5

Deepak Pathak, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) coordinator for Rohtak and Jhajjar districts, sparked a controversy with his remark that he had come to “form” former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government.

Pathak had come to Rohtak for a feedback from local workers as part of the party’s exercise to build its organisation. Addressing the workers, he stated that “Main desh mein Rahul Gandhi ki sarkar aur pradesh mein Hooda ji ki sarkar banane aaya hoon,” triggering a sharp reaction from Hooda’s detractors.

Taking exception to the remark, Haryana’s former Home Minister and Congress leader Subhash Batra said, “He had no business deciding the CM or the party’s chief ministerial candidate. He should have stuck to his job.”

Asked if he attended the meeting, he replied in the negative, saying that he was invited for the meeting by local MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra, but he could not attend it.

However, former Haryana minister Krishan Murti Hooda said he had been misinformed that today’s meeting had been cancelled. “Following that, I left for a tour of some villages. Later, I was told that the meeting was on. It seems that this was done to keep us away from the meeting,” he claimed. He also condemned the coordinator’s remark.

Meanwhile, for the second consecutive day, party factionalism remained the highlight of consultations between AICC observers and district leaders. At Yamunanagar, groupism was witnessed at a meeting called by observer Sabir Hussain Khan at the PWD Rest House in Jagadhri today. Supporters of former union minister Kumari Selja raised slogans against Hooda and his son Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda, alleging that they had captured the party. Hooda’s supporters also raised slogans against Selja.

In Karnal, too, pro- and anti-Hooda camps sloganeered against each other. On the one side, there were supporters of Selja, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala and former minister Kiran Choudhry, while on the other, there were supporters of Hooda. However, the senior leaders pacified them.

Surjewala, meanwhile, remarked, “We came to meet party president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal with regard to the grievances of workers and how they are being sidelined. We have confidence that these issues will be addressed by the leaders.”

AICC to choose CM, clarifies Pathak

Briefing the media after the meeting, Pathak clarified that he had merely stated that he had come to the “soil” of Hooda. “Hooda and his son Deepender have done commendable work. I have seen that local residents love them. We will work for the formation of a Congress regime in the state and the Chief Minister would be decided by the AICC,” he stated, indicating a slip of tongue in his earlier remark.