Knives out for Hooda after Hisar disaster

The Congress rout in Hisar has exposed the disenchantment the people of Haryana have with chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his government, even as the party tried to downplay the Lok Sabha byelection result declared on Monday.

“Chief ministers do not come with expiry dates,” said Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury, dismissing suggestions that it was the end of the road for Hooda. The party’s nominee, Jai Prakash, even forfeited his security deposit, making it an open season for knives to be out for Hooda in the already faction-riddled state Congress.

It is another matter that the final contours of the poll results shaped from a campaign-time call by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and his team to defeat the ruling Congress, given its “disinterest” in passing the Jan Lok Pal Bill in Parliament.

True, Hooda had made this bypoll a prestige issue and did campaign extensively for Jai Prakash, but other state leaders stayed away. For, there are factions opposed to Hooda -- including those led by leaders like Chaudhry Birender Singh and Kumari Selja. Congress insiders admit that discontented leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the electioneering though the party had given a call to the Pradesh Congress to fight the poll unitedly.

Adding to the woes came incidents like the Mirchpur violence earlier this year. The place, incidentally, fell under the constituency. It now seemed to have cast its shadow, as non-Jats and Dalits have been feeling insecure under Hooda’s rule. The sheer non-chalance by which upper-caste Jats got away, allegedly under the patronage of Hooda -- a Jat, has raised questions about the CM’s governance. Overall, the Congress, in its run-up to the 2014 general elections, may be prompted to re-think on its state leadership. What is also likely to give way to the demands for replacing Hooda is the fact that Jat vote seems to have been consolidated this time around Ajay Chautala of the INLD. This, despite Hooda having camped in Hisar for over10 days and campaigning for the byelection.

What could be an additional factor is that non-Jats, despite strong demands, have not been favoured as chief ministerial candidates. At some point in time, the Congress might have to give in to this demand.

Hazare’s call to defeat the Congress candidate had prompted the party to summon its chief ministers from near Haryana — including Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot and Delhi’s Sheila Diskhit — to campaign in Hisar.

Spokesperson Chowdhury insisted that “Hooda still has some battery running in him”, but the poll results do not bode well for Congress.