The first full-time session of the Haryana Assembly is about to begin, but Congress has not yet been able to choose its leader in the Assembly. That too, when 45 days have passed since the election results came. The question is arising that why Congress has not been able to take a decision regarding this post even after a month?
The leader of the legislative party is the leader of opposition in the assembly. The job of the Leader of Opposition is to keep the opposition MLAs united on the floor and corner the government on major issues.
Congress not able to recover from defeat?
A major reason for the Leader of the Opposition not being able to take a decision is not being able to recover from the defeat. Many big leaders of Congress are still busy reviewing the defeat. The party is also continuously complaining to the Election Commission. The party believes that its candidates lost at many booths due to voting and EVMs.
Congress had formed a committee under the leadership of former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthan Congress leader Harish Chaudhary to review the defeat in Haryana.
This committee was asked to review all those aspects due to which the party had to face defeat. The committee was also entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the leaders responsible for the defeat.
It is being said that the committee has not yet submitted the complete report to the Congress high command.
Laughter continues regarding face
37 Congress MLAs have reached the House after winning this election. Of these, 31 MLAs belong to Bhupinder Singh Hooda group. The Hooda faction is trying to make someone close to it the leader of the opposition. For this, many names have also been recommended by the group to the Congress high command.
At the same time, powerful leaders Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala are insisting on making someone different from the Hooda group the Leader of Opposition. Tension was also seen regarding this in the legislative party meeting in Chandigarh. However, the final decision was left to the high command.
The Congress high command is currently busy in Jharkhand and Maharashtra elections.
Caste equation is also a factor
In Haryana, Congress has been moving forward with the help of Jat and Dalit equation. Before the 2024 elections, Chaudhary Udaybhan of Dalit community was given the post of State President, while Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Jat community was given the post of Leader of Opposition.
This time Congress has got the votes of Jat community unilaterally. Compared to the Lok Sabha elections, this time there has been a breach in the Dalit vote bank. The population of Dalits and Jats in Haryana is about 40 percent. In such a situation, it is being said that Congress will again work to solve this equation.
Last time Udaybhan of Dalit community had the chair of state president. Udaybhan could not win MLA from Hodal. In such a situation, his chair is also in danger. It is being said that one of the reasons for not choosing the leader of the legislative party is the decision on the state president.
Apart from these 3 reasons, the Congress high command is also confused about choosing the Leader of Opposition. If any group gets a big responsibility and is accused of defeating Congress candidates, then it can bring disgrace to the party.
That’s why Congress wants to take a decision on this issue only after knowing all the angles.
Congress lost in Haryana due to infighting
Congress, which had won 44 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, was reduced to 37 seats in the assembly elections held just four years later. The main reason for Congress’s defeat was internal factionalism. Due to the tension between Selja and Hooda faction, Congress lost on about a dozen seats.
Many close to Kumari Selja also had to face defeat in this election. The names of Pradeep Chaudhary and Shamsher Gogi are prominent among them. After the defeat in the elections, former Assandh MLA Gogi had directly attacked the Hooda group.
Here, Congress had to face defeat in Selja village and assembly constituency also. Experts believe that the entire election in Haryana became a matter of Jat versus non-Jat, due to which the traditional Dalits of Congress also shifted towards BJP.
