Hisar: With only days to go for the Haryana assembly elections, factionalism in the Congress’ state unit came to the fore once again Friday when former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda gave Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting at Mahendragarh a miss.
Rahul was a last-minute addition to the meeting that was supposed to host interim president Sonia Gandhi, who dropped out at the eleventh hour due to ‘unavoidable reasons’. Sources in the party, however, said it was Rahul and his team that had asked Hooda to not attend the event.
The public meeting was on Hooda’s official election schedule and he was slated to arrive at the Mahendragarh helipad around 2 pm after addressing another gathering in Sonepat. Hooda was conspicuous in his absence at the event, especially considering Mahendragarh candidate Dan Singh Rao is considered one of his confidantes.
“The only reason he (Hooda) couldn’t be there was because his helicopter was denied permission to land due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally,” said a close aide of Hooda. “So he chose to address more meetings in Sonepat instead.
“Many BJP leaders have skipped their public events in Haryana, why doesn’t anyone ask them questions,” he added.
The party has been split ever since Sonia decided to replace Ashok Tanwar, considered close to Rahul, with Kumari Selja, who is thought to be close to Hooda, as the Haryana Congress chief.
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Not the first time
This was Rahul’s second public meeting in the poll-bound state that votes on 21 October.
Earlier this week, the former Congress chief had addressed a public meeting at Marora Ground in Nuh district. Hooda had not taken part in that meeting either and instead chose to address several other gatherings in Sonepat.
“Rahul’s programme was slotted for the morning of 14, October,” said Hooda’s aide. “It was later slotted for the evening. So he (Hooda) couldn’t make it.”
But a senior Haryana Congress leader pointed at Tanwar’s removal as state unit chief as the cause for tension.
“Rahul and his team have been upset about the ouster of Tanwar. They hold Hooda responsible, so they quietly conveyed to him that he need not attend the public meeting in Nuh. They told him he should carry on with his campaigning,” said the senior leader.
Since his ouster, Tanwar has decided to support the Janata Jannayak Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala in the state. The Congress faces an uphill task in Haryana where the BJP has launched an all-out offensive against it.
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It’s Karma only….. Same Hooda obliged Jijaji to upsurp thousands of acres of land in Haryana in his haydays ……
Going by the mood of Haryana people in the opinion polls, it’s better that Gandhi Pariwar loyalist who plundered wealth of the nation, never come to the picture rather be jailed with Jijaji….
I fail to understand why ThePrint has not written “Controversial” with Hooda’s name…..
The media has forgotten the follies of Hooda so soon….