Knives are out in Congress after BJP stormed its bastions Maharashtra and Haryana in the assembly polls marking a saffron surge in new territories. Dissension in Haryana Congress unit came to the fore with former Union minister Kumari Selja, a known detractor of outgoing Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, gunning for his head saying the responsibility of the defeat should be on him.
Firing a salvo at Delhi-based senior leaders of the party, a young minister in Karnataka government demanded "weeding out" ineffectual leaders operating from the national capital. "@INCIndia will learn from its losses..time to strengthen committed grassroot leaders & weed out effete leaders operating out from Delhi," Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted. Explaining his remarks, Rao later said that those working at the grass roots like Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan should be given more prominence.
"The focus should be on grass roots and committed leaders... Such leaders should be identified, recognised and promoted," he said clarifying he was "not hitting out at anyone" and expressing his faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Rao, a fourth term MLA is Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs in Karnataka and the son of former Chief Minister R Gundu Rao.
With the Assembly election results in Haryana giving BJP a clear majority to form the next government and Congress tally coming down to a mere 15 in the 90-member state assembly, Hooda was under fire from Selja.
"I think the responsibility should be on him because he enjoyed total, absolute unbridled power for last 10 years as Chief Minister," she said when asked how much does she blame Hooda for the defeat.
She also said her relationship with Hooda also affected her campaigning during the polls. Selja alleged that even the ticket distribution as well as campaign and publicity were "more or less one sided". "A lot of people were consulted in ticket selection but by the end when tickets were finally given out, it was heavily loaded in his favour," she said.
Congress had won 40 of the 90 seats it contested in 2009 under Hooda's leadership. In the 2004 Assembly elections, the party had done much better winning 67 of the 90 seats it contested. Selja said that more consultation should have taken place among the leaders and more consideration on the issue of ticket distribution. "Unfortunately that kind of environment was totally missing," she said. Claiming that she was one of the major backers of Hooda in 2007, the former Union minister said that this time "most of the grudges were against the state leadership... the problem was at the state level. He failed to carry along people with him whether it was leaders or workers".
Selja, a Dalit leader, downplayed questions about caste factor saying that Congress has always taken all communities into consideration when asked whether Congress missed out on the other non Jat and Dalit votes, which the BJP consolidated. At the AICC briefing, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala sought to steer clear of questions on Selja's remarks saying he has not heard them as he drove to the party headquarters directly from the constituency. Pressed further he said that Selja is a senior leader and the party "respects" her and her views. "The party will deliberate on the results in both states.
All senior leaders will get an opportunity to express their view. She will be asked to give her opinion and view. Perhaps saying it today will be haste (what Selja said)," Surjewala said
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}