Defeat in Haryana Assembly elections is a big blow for Congress. An even bigger blow is for Bhupendra Singh Hooda. Bhupendra Singh Hooda considered himself the ‘one-man army’ of the party, and was dreaming of becoming the Chief Minister for the third time, but his dream could not come true. Hooda, 77, is a veteran of many political battles and was leading the party in the state this time too, but it proved to be a major setback in his political career. Now he is being compared with former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath.
Congress’s defeat and BJP’s unexpected victory
In Haryana, BJP achieved what seemed impossible till a week ago. The BJP, having been in power for the last 10 years, was facing strong anti-incumbency. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP won only 5 out of 10 seats in the state. After this, the exit polls that came on October 5 also predicted the victory of Congress. But as the counting results came out on October 8, the BJP took a decisive lead.
Big blow for Bhupendra Singh Hooda
Bhupendra Singh Hooda, who has been the chief of Haryana Congress and two-time Chief Minister, was extremely confident about the victory of the Congress. He had taken the party’s election campaign on his shoulders and had ignored all options of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Hooda, who became the Chief Minister for the first time by defeating Bhajan Lal in 2005, completely revolved this Congress election around himself. But as the BJP gained the lead, there was silence in the Congress offices.
Same story of Kamal Nath and Hooda
The election results of Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have emerged as a major failure for the Congress. In Madhya Pradesh too, Congress faced defeat under the leadership of 77-year-old Kamal Nath, while BJP was facing 15 years of anti-incumbency wave there. Kamal Nath also had complete control over all the election issues and ticket distribution, but he failed to lead the party to victory. Holding Kamal Nath responsible for the defeat, Congress removed him and appointed 50-year-old Jitu Patwari as the new chief of Madhya Pradesh Congress.
Hooda’s situation is also like that of Kamal Nath.
In Haryana too, Hooda’s case was similar to that of Kamal Nath. Expressing full confidence in Hooda, the Congress high command had entrusted him with the responsibility of ticket distribution and election campaign. At least 70 out of 90 candidates were from Hooda’s camp. Other prominent party leaders like Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala were ignored. Both these leaders were also presenting themselves as Chief Minister candidates.
This was a golden opportunity for Hooda to win the election. Issues like farmer agitation, wrestlers’ protest, unemployment, Agneepath scheme were enough for Congress to corner BJP. But the election results proved that Congress, especially Hooda, could not make a strong strategy against BJP.
Crisis of Congress’s old guard
These election results from Madhya Pradesh and Haryana point to the need for change between the old guard of the Congress and the young leadership. Despite repeated failures, Congress handed over the electoral responsibility to old leaders like Kamal Nath and Hooda, which led to the party’s defeat in two important states. Now it remains to be seen whether Congress takes the step of change of leadership in Haryana like Madhya Pradesh or not.
