Old warhorses wage new battle
NEW DELHI: The assembly poll results of Maharashtra and Haryana are likely to result in the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in both the states. But there is a reason — or actually two reasons — why the BJP has not been able to get a majority on its own in Haryana, leaving it in search of support from others, and become more sharply dependent on its ally, the Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra.
The reasons are the 79-year old Sharad Pawar and the 72-year old Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
They hold out a lesson. In politics, setbacks are not permanent. In a democracy, every election is a new opportunity. Constant struggle and mobilisation, a risk-taking appetite, and deep local connect with the ground can turn fortunes.
OLD GUARD RETURNS
In 2018, Haryana’s former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda embarked on a pan-state yatra in order to wage a campaign against the Manohar Lal Khattar government and expose its failings.
But the Congress veteran’s target was elsewhere. His aides candidly admitted that the effort was directed as much against the party leadership — the then president Rahul Gandhi in particular — to force Gandhi’s hand to give the reins of state leadership to Hooda and declare him the de-facto CM candidate.
It was an effort to showcase power over his internal party rivals, in particular the state chief, Ashok Tanwar.
Hooda was not heard by his intended audience, like he had not been heard ever since the defeat in the 2014 assembly polls. He waited, but increasingly got restless — and in the middle of this year, seriously contemplated quitting the party along with his son, Deepender Hooda. He also struck a distinct note from the party high command on moves by the Central government such as the nullification of Article 370.
By then, however, a door had opened as the leadership of the party had shifted to Sonia Gandhi. The Congress’s “old guard” was back in the game -- in particular, Ahmed Patel, a leader with whom the Haryana veteran shared a good equation, and Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Haryana in-charge of the party. Hooda was made campaign in-charge of the state in early September.