Down but not out, the Rohtak strongman is back in business
CHANDIGARH: Articulation has never been a strongpoint of twoterm Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The Rohtak strongman, however, made quite a statement in the distribution of Congress tickets for the October 21 assembly polls. His dominance was writ large.
Hooda seems to be back in business after he recently got what he was longing for the past couple of years – a position of some substance. His appointment as leader of the Congress legislature party (CLP) in the outgoing assembly and chairman of the election management committee may not exactly be the kind of positions he was looking for. But it has helped him put across a message that he is in control as far as the state Congress is concerned.
“Hooda was completely overlooked by the party high command for the last five years. He was beginning to get nervy. The Rohtak rally where he sounded defiant and blamed the party for losing its way was a desperate measure to shake the high command. He was placated thereafter with the CLP leader tag,’’ said a party insider.
CORRUPTION CASES
The former CM is fighting more demons than he could have bargained for. A series of corruption cases, being investigated by the CBI, are wearing him out.
The spectre of 2016 Jat quota arson and violence in and around Rohtak haunts him every now and then.
The ruling BJP does not miss an opportunity to draw public attention to the violent episode and blame Hooda for it. Hooda has denied allegations and instead blamed the BJP government for violence and divisive politics.
One of the headaches for him is the ever-escalating internal strife in the state unit. Former state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar recently resigned from the party, blaming Hooda for “fixing” tickets. All this has neither helped the state Congress nor Hooda.
“Factionalism is not new to us. But the continued bickering is sending a wrong message of insincerity to the electorate. The party is in the dumps and going down further,’’ said a party MLA.
FAILURE TO CHECK BJP RISE
A letdown for Hooda has been his inability to check the rise of the BJP, particularly in his own backyard of Rohtak, Sonepat and Jhajjar. Both Hooda and the Congress seem to be clueless in countering the BJP’s strategy to polarise the nonJats.
“The political tact is missing. He does not seem to have an answer. Caste polarisation did him in during the Lok Sabha polls when he lost from Sonepat,’’ said a party functionary. Hooda had told HT sometime back that the so-called theory of polarisation on caste lines does not hold good.
A SERIES OF CORRUPTION CASES ARE WEARING HIM OUT; THE RULING BJP BLAMES HIM FOR JAT QUOTA VIOLENCE; INTERNAL STRIFE IN THE STATE CONG IS ESCALATING
STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
FightWing against the welloiled BJP poll machinery is not going to be easy for Hooda and his party colleagues.
He would have to bring together all his political acumen, resources and experience to stem the tide. The way things are right now, it may in the end just turn out to be struggle for survival for him and his loyalists. But that’s another story, post poll results.