Congress has fielded actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar from Haryana’s Gurugram Lok Sabha seat. Haryana State Committee had sent a panel of two names for Gurugram seat to the National Committee. The names of Raj Babbar and Captain Ajay Singh Yadav were included in this. While Bhupendra Hooda was advocating for Raj Babbar from Gurugram, the trio (SRK) faction of Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Choudhary wanted Captain Ajay Yadav to contest the elections. The Congress high command took into consideration Hooda’s choice in the matter of candidate selection from Gurugram seat. In this way, Hooda has overshadowed the ‘SRK’ faction in Haryana Congress politics.
In Haryana, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have entered the electoral fray together under ‘India Alliance’. Congress is contesting on 9 out of 10 seats in the state and Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on one seat from Kurukshetra. With the approval of Raj Babbar’s name on the Gurugram seat, Congress has announced candidates for all the 9 seats of its quota. 8 out of 9 Congress tickets have been given to leaders close to former CM Bhupendra Singh Hooda, while only Kumari Selja from the SRK faction has got the Lok Sabha ticket.
Congress is divided into two groups in Haryana, which is well known. One group is of Hooda and the other is SRK group. Veteran Congress leaders Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhary united against Bhupendra Hooda, known as the ‘SRK’ faction. Bhupendra Hooda and SRK groups wanted to get tickets from Congress to the leaders of their choice on all the 9 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana, for which both the groups had lobbied with full force. The Congress high command has given special attention to Bhupendra Hooda and has given tickets to the candidates of its choice on 8 out of 9 seats, while the SRK faction has got only one seat.
The bet was not played on Raj Babbar just like that
Congress had declared candidates for 9 to 8 seats of Haryana only last week, but there was a tussle between Hooda and SRK faction regarding Gurugram Lok Sabha seat. The State Committee of Congress had sent the names of Raj Babbar and Ajay Yadav to the National Committee for Gurugram seat. Other factions of Congress were putting forward the name of Swaraj India Party convenor Yogendra Yadav. SRK group wanted to get ticket for Ajay, while Hooda was advocating for Raj Babbar’s ticket. Keeping in view the political equation of Gurugram, the Congress high command approved the choice of Hooda.
By making Raj Babbar its candidate from Gurugram, Congress has tried to solve the local equations as well as break the political supremacy of BJP MP and Modi government minister Rao Inderjit. There are a large number of Punjabi and Muslim voters in Gurugram seat. Raj Babbar comes from the Punjabi community, while his first wife was a Muslim. In this way, along with the votes of both the communities, cine star Raj Babbar can also get the support of his film fans. Mewat area comes under Gurugram seat, which can stand strongly behind Raj Babbar.
Khanty voters of Congress also have their own separate existence in Gurugram seat, but the factionalism of some leaders of their own party can trouble them. In such a situation, convincing disgruntled leaders will be no less than a challenge for them. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Rao Inderjit got 881546 votes and Congress candidate Captain Ajay Singh Yadav had to be satisfied with 495290 votes. Therefore, despite the efforts of SRK faction, Congress has given importance to Raj Babbar of Hooda camp instead of Ajay Yadav.
Let us tell you that Raj Babbar entered politics in 1989 and became a leader from actor. Raj Babbar joined the Janata Dal led by VP Singh and later joined the Samajwadi Party. Because of Thakur Amar Singh, he left SP and joined Congress. He has been a Lok Sabha MP three times and a member of the Rajya Sabha twice. In 2009, Raj Babbar defeated Dimple Yadav from Firozabad seat. Since then he could not get an election victory, even though he tried his luck on many seats. Now he will contest against Rao Inderjit on Gurugram seat. Rao left Congress and joined BJP in 2014. In this way there will be a fight between the former Congressman and the current Congressman.
Hooda overshadows SRK group
The way Bhupendra Hooda has succeeded in getting tickets to leaders close to him in Haryana, it is being considered a big blow to the SRK faction. Hooda’s choice has been approved in Ambala, Sonipat and Hisar. Varun Mullana, Mullana’s MLA from Ambala seat, is a special supporter of former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda, to whom the party has given ticket. From here the SRK group was lobbying for Renu Bala. Jai Prakash JP has lost several times by contesting elections in Hisar, but the party has given him the ticket again. Jai Prakash is considered close to Hooda, while the SRK faction did not agree on his name at all. In Hisar, SRK group was advocating the names of Chandramohan Bishnoi and Brijendra Singh.
Satpal Brahmachari has been made the candidate from Sonipat Lok Sabha seat. Youth Congress President Divyanshu Budhiraja has been given ticket from Karnal seat, Rao Dan Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and former cabinet minister Mahendra Pratap Singh from Faridabad seat. Hooda had also lobbied the name of former speaker Kuldeep Sharma in Karnal and Sonipat, but the party could not agree to give ticket to Kuldeep. After this, the name of Satpal Brahmachari was put forward and approved, while the SRK group was lobbying for Chaudhary Birendra Singh’s son from Sonipat.
Former MP Shruti Choudhary, granddaughter of Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal and daughter of Kiran Choudhary, from the SRK group, was also advocating for the ticket from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat, but could not succeed. This is the first time that Bansilal’s family will not be in the election field. Kiran Choudhary could not keep up with Hooda. In this way, the SRK faction wanted tickets for leaders close to it on Rohtak and Karnal seats, but the Congress high command chose those close to Hooda.
No one went ahead of Hooda
Congress politics in Haryana is centered around Bhupendra Singh Hooda. Any Congress leader in Haryana who challenged Hooda could never overcome him. From Ashok Tanwar to Kuldeep Bishnoi, they tried to open their front, but could not stand in front of Hooda. Ashok Tanwar was considered close to Rahul Gandhi, but the day he opened the front against Hooda, he was marginalized and had to leave Congress. From Chaudhary Birendra Singh to Rao Inderjit left Congress because of their political enmity with Hooda. The battle for political supremacy between Kuldeep Bishnoi and Hooda has been public, but he too had to leave Congress.
Kiran Choudhary, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala had to join hands to challenge Bhupendra Hooda’s growing political influence in Haryana Congress. In this way, the SRK group was doing its own separate lobbying. In the Lok Sabha elections, he had sent the names of the candidates of his choice on all the seats, but the Congress high command trusted Hooda’s choice. In this way, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Hooda proved that he is the uncrowned king of Congress politics.
