The Haryana Assembly elections have seen a head-to-head contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress appears to be making inroads with Jat and Dalit voters, but dissatisfaction with Dalit leader Kumari Selja appears to be weighing heavily on the party. Kumari Selja has not contested party elections in Haryana since September 12. However, Congress president Mallikarjun Haq is said to have convinced him. Selja will run for Congress starting on September 26. Randeep Surjewala also gave this information through a tweet. But at the same time, the way Selja feels
Wouldn’t Congress be in danger if she started calling herself a contender for the M position? Until September 23, he had not denied his claim to be the chief minister in the Panchayat and then in a conversation with The Indian Express, he also described himself as a contender for the chief minister’s post. Apparently, she wants assurances from the party leadership for the chief ministership.
1-Is Rahul Gandhi also supporting Selja?
Now, after meeting Congress President Haq, Kumari Selja has made it clear that she will start campaigning from Narwana on September 26. After this news broke, it was reported that Rahul Gandhi has also decided to start campaigning in the Haryana elections. On the same day that Kumari Seliya goes out to campaign, that is, September 26, Rahul Gandhi will also go to Haryana to campaign. Those familiar with the Congress party know that Rahul Gandhi has always given priority to supporting Kumari Selja over former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda. Meanwhile, there are also reports that Congress may play games and make Zelia its prime ministerial candidate.
There is no doubt that by fielding Selja as its candidate, the Congress could be ahead of the BJP in North India. But Hooda’s strong influence in the Congress in Haryana is undeniable. The Congress leadership cannot possibly dream of succeeding in Haryana by provoking Hooda at all costs. Perhaps this is why Selja has delayed running for chief ministership. But she could not tolerate the insulting remarks about Serja and the deliberate vote-cutting by two of her close supporters. This is why he was absent from the campaign for nearly 12 days. Rahul Gandhi may also be sad about all this.
Now there is news that Rahul Gandhi will start campaigning in Haryana from September 26. But most importantly, he decided to hold the first election rally for Asunder candidate Shamsher Singh. Shamsher Singh is believed to be close to Kumari Selja.
Rahul Gandhi will also campaign for Hooda’s camp on the same day. Congress will get help keeping the two groups together. There is a tough fight between the Hooda and Selia camps in the Haryana elections and the Congress does not want the party to suffer any losses in this fight.
2-Is this a political game by Congress?
Politics is a vague game. Much came to light after Kumari Selja first fumed in Congress and then hinted at re-entering the fray about two weeks later.
The first is whether the votes the Congress gained in the last assembly elections in Haryana or in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were just because of Kumari Selja alone. The answer is not simple. Uttar Pradesh does not have a strong Dalit leader like Kumari Selja, but the Congress party got the votes of this group on the issue of saving the constitution, and the Congress won a large proportion of Dalit votes in the Lok Sabha elections. Little votes, the situation is very similar now. The same goes for parliamentary elections. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Congress vote count will be reduced due to Kumari Seliya’s dissatisfaction. Nor can it be said that if she had stayed in Congress, the Dalit vote would not have been split.
Yes, one more thing can happen. If Selja had been claiming to be the CM candidate during the Congress campaign, there is no doubt that the Congress share of Dalit votes in the state would have increased a bit further, so it is also possible that A well thought out part. This may have happened under the Congress party’s strategy of Kumari first upsetting Selja and then allowing him to talk about his demand for the CM post.
3-How much does the BJP expect to gain from the fight between Hooda and Selia?
Citing the examples of Ashok Tanwar and Kumari Selja, Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and called it Anti-Dalit parties. Addressing two rallies in Tohana and Yamuna Nagar in Haryana, he said the Congress party has been an anti-Dalit party in Tohana, Shah said. I would like to remind Hooda ji and Rahul Baba of the 2005 Gohana incident. Who is responsible for this? This is Congress.
The home minister also referred to the Mirchpur incident in 2010, when upper caste people set fire to the houses of several Dalit families and they were forced to flee. In the incident, a teenage girl and her father were burned to death. In Gohana, some Dalit houses were also set on fire over their alleged involvement in the murders of upper caste people.
Clearly the BJP wants to cash in on Selja’s dissatisfaction. Not only Amit Shah but the state’s former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar also invited Selja to join the BJP. But Selja may not want to leave the party.
Speaking to a TV channel, senior Haryana journalist Adesh Rawal said that the alliance between the BJP and the BJP was only for Dalit votes, while on the other hand, the BJP and Chandrashek Karl’s Free Socialist Party. These alliances will not have any impact on the Congress party, although Rawal acknowledged that the party’s popularity has definitely declined in the past 10 days.
