Hooda returns, and how

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 24

The Congress performance in Haryana has upset the BJP’s calculations of seamlessly stepping into a second term under the leadership of Manohar Lal Khattar and the party seems to have exceeded its own expectations this Assembly election as it celebrated its resurgence.

While the overconfidence of the BJP, economic slowdown, anti-incumbency as also the poor selection of candidates are being blamed for the ruling party’s performance, the new Dalit-Jat team of Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja and Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda is being credited with turning around the fortunes of the Congress in Haryana in over a month.

The tallest of Jat leaders in the state, Hooda, also considered a farmers’ leader, supported by a majority of the party MLAs, struggled for nearly two years to press for former Congressman and then state chief Ashok Tanwar’s ouster, with little success.

Finally, Hooda’s supporters, restless over being ignored, began to push him to float his own party soon after the Lok Sabha election results were declared in May this year. In a weak position after having lost the Lok Sabha election from the Sonepat seat, Hooda suffered a double blow when his son and sitting Rohtak MP, Deepender Hooda, also lost the election. 

As Hooda weighed his options and talk of an independent political outfit being floated under his leadership began to gain ground, he summoned a couple of meetings as a show of strength for the benefit of the party high command. 

He held a final meeting on August 18 in Rohtak to chalk out the future course of action in the face of an indifferent Congress top brass. 

With the party’s general secretary in charge of Haryana, Ghulam Nabi Azad, on his side, Hooda’s wait bore fruit when the Congress replaced Tanwar with Selja and he was given the status of CLP leader on September 4, a month before the Assembly elections were announced. 

The new team inherited a number of challenges with the Congress divided into numerous factions and the party having no organisational structure at grass-roots level while the ruling BJP was on a roll after winning all 10 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. 

Breathing new life into a failing Congress, a rejuvenated Hooda toured the state extensively. Hoping to consolidate the Jats behind him after the split in the Indian National Lok Dal, Hooda hit the tarmac running and went about campaigning in pockets where his presence would make a difference while always keeping the focus on the Deswali belt where he has considerable sway.

Having held various positions in the party, including that of the state chief from 1996 to 2001, Hooda served as Chief Minister of the state from 2005 to 2014. Soon after the BJP assumed power, he was targeted and the CBI slapped cases against him. Though his chips were down, he carried on with his struggle against the BJP and kept the fight against Tanwar’s ouster alive, not giving up and not giving in.

Sources close to him maintain that the Congress’s performance is the consequence of Hooda’s sustained effort to fight against all odds whether it was the CBI cases or the direction the party was taking under Tanwar. With this spectacular performance by the party, the Congress is out of the woods in Haryana and Hooda has consolidated his position as a leader who is a cut above the rest. 

The two-time CM 

• 1991: Becomes MP for the first time
• 1996, 1998, 2004: Elected MP 
• 1996-2001: State Cong chief 
• 2001-2004: Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha
• 2005-2014: CM of Haryana