Cracks widen in Congress: Rahul Gandhi’s AAP proposal revives old turf war in Haryana

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has vehemently opposed an alliance between Congress and AAP for the Haryana Assembly elections. (File photo: PTI)

Already beset with factionalism and infighting, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s proposal to consider an alliance with INDIA bloc partner AAP in Haryana has triggered fresh controversy in the state unit of the Congress.

The Congress faction led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has expressed strong reservations against any seat-sharing arrangement with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Haryana Assembly elections. The pushback is limited not just to the Hoodas but extends to other senior leaders as well, reports The Indian Express.

So strong was the dissent that Hooda, the Haryana Congress Legislature Party leader, even walked out of one of the Congress party’s meetings objecting to the proposal. The developments come as negotiations get underway for the AAP-Congress alliance in Haryana.

Sources said that a sub-committee set up by the Congress to explore a seat-sharing pact with the AAP, its INDIA bloc alliance partner, besides deciding on candidates in about 24 seats where there is no consensus has already met senior party leaders like Hoodas and state unit president Kumari Selja, reported IE. The AAP is learnt to have demanded 9-10 seats to contest in the state.

While the proposal for an alliance with the AAP acted as the trigger for the current face-off, Hooda is also miffed with the central leadership over the denial of tickets to some of the sitting MLAs who are seen as loyal to the ex-CM.

Among the MLAs whose candidature has been put on hold include Dharam Singh Chhoker from Samalkha, Surender Panwar from Sonipat and Rao Dan Singh from Mahendragarh, all from the Hooda camp.

Contrary to reports suggesting earlier that the Central Election Committee led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress had cleared the names of a majority of the candidates, it has now emerged that the list was put on hold. This has also resulted in a delay in the release of the first list of Congress for Haryana.

Bhupinder Hooda has consistently maintained that the Congress is fully capable of contesting the polls on its own. Battling with a problem of plenty, a large section of Congress leaders sees the alliance as benefitting the AAP more than the Congress.

“When we have enough ticket-seekers for all 90 segments, why should we go with the AAP? How will it benefit the Congress? The AAP doesn't have any base in Haryana and neither any community vote bank. It is only the AAP that is going to benefit from the alliance. And the Congress has to take the risk of losing all those seats allotted to the AAP,” Hooda said after the Lok Sabha elections.

The AAP, which formed an alliance with the Congress in Haryana for the 2024 general elections, failed to make a mark, polling just 0.36 percent of the votes, marginally higher than NOTA votes. In the Assembly polls later that year, the AAP contested 46 seats and forfeited deposits on all Assembly segments with a vote percentage of 0.48, fewer than NOTA.

The current face-off in Haryana brings back memories of the internal tussle that Congress saw soon after Rahul Gandhi started taking active interest in the party’s day-to-day affairs. The narrative of the ‘old guard’ versus the new continued well beyond the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a grouping of 23 senior leaders (G-23) dissented against the central leadership of the party.

Hooda was among the signatories to the G-23 grouping which demanded large-scale reforms in the party’s functioning in order to make a course correction. The grouping was led by former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and included leaders like Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma, among others.

Parallelly, the Hoodas have continuously battled to retain their supremacy in the state ever since the Congress’ defeat in the 2014 Assembly elections. This involved not just the top leadership in New Delhi but also the state unit where their turf war had opponents such as former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, Leader of Opposition Kiran Choudhry and Captain Ajay Singh Yadav.

The appointment of Kumari Selja, an old Hooda rival, as the HPCC president proved to be another bone of contention. Now, the denial of tickets to Hooda loyalists and the alliance with AAP despite his abject refusal suggests there are greater power dynamics at play.