Jail term to Chautala, Khemka issue kept Haryana in the news

CM Hooda is also fighting a strong anti-incumbency wave

Haryana was in the news in 2013 mostly for the wrong reasons -- be it the jail term to former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in the teacher recruitment scam, a charge sheet against whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka or a court direction to police to lodge an FIR against a minister in a bogus voters case.

Factionalism and internal bickering remained the order of the day within ruling Congress, which also had issues like anti-incumbency, emergence of AAP, strong opposition in the shape of INLD, besides the HJC-BJP combine to tackle ahead of assembly polls due next year.

Despite speculation of a split, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) President and Hisar MP Kuldeep Bishnoi managed to keep his party's tie-up with BJP strong.

1991-batch officer Khemka, at present secretary to Haryana government in the Archives Department, continued to be in the news during the year for various reasons. He was named in a charge sheet by the state government in December in connection with cancellation of land deal between Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty giant DLF in October last year.

Khemka, however, got support from various quarters, including INLD and BJP, which slammed the state government for going after an "honest officer" while AAP extended an offer to him to lead the party in the state.

78-year-old Chautala, a four-time chief minister and his son Ajay (51), both sitting MLAs, were in January sentenced by a Delhi court to 10 years imprisonment for corruption in a teachers recruitment scam, dealing a body blow to the party.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been at the helm for nine years, may find the going tough before the state goes to polls due to issues like price rise and discontentment among a section of employees.

Besides, Hooda is fighting a strong anti-incumbency wave and his detractors within his party are certainly not helping his cause.

Congress MP from Gurgaon Rao Inderjit Singh rebelled and floated his apolitical Haryana Insaaf Manch. The Ahirwal leader, who enjoys clout in south Haryana could dent the party's fortunes as he has already announced that he will not fight a future election from Congress while giving indications that he may float his own political outfit or may shift his loyalty to BJP.