Kartikeya Sharma stages a stunning victory, jolts Congress

New Delhi: Media baron Kartikeya Sharma pulled off a sensational and brilliant victory as an Independent candidate in a nail-biting contest in the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana on Friday night-Saturday morning. He made ripples by defeating Congress’ heavyweight candidate, Ajay Maken. Backed by BJP and JJP, the young leader, Kartikeya, made his debut in politics by being elected straight to the Rajya Sabha. His political moves surprised even the bigwigs of politics.
Facing a setback wrapped in embarrassment, the Congress in Haryana is set to see another round of political bickering. The result is a bigger jolt to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Hooda’s political stature has received a serious blow following Maken’s defeat. As his real political clout is out in the open, Hooda will be facing problems in the party now. Hooda could not keep Congress’ flock together despite getting all his decisions implemented by the high command.
While Congress MLA from Adampur, Kuldeep Bishnoi, voted against the party candidate, another legislator resorted to such a tactic that the vote got rejected without anyone having even an inkling of the same.
Congress insiders say that the biggest mistake that the Congress high command made was to choose Ajay Maken as a candidate. Secondly, the appointment of a new PCC chief could have been delayed. But under pressure from Hooda, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi handed over the party’s top post in Haryana to a leader of his choice—Uday Bhan—a step that angered several seniors. To make it worse, Rahul Gandhi declined to meet Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was unhappy with the decision on the PCC chief and wanted to meet him on the same issue. Rahul’s decision not to meet Bishnoi ahead of voting was surprising. It is said that Hooda’s over-confidence was behind Rahul ignoring Bishnoi. What Hooda seemed to ignore was that Kartikeya Sharma was keeping a close eye on every single vote and succeeded in getting the required number of votes despite Congress moving its MLAs to Raipur of Chhattisgarh to prevent poaching.
The development highlights Kartikeya’s political sagacity. Even though Sharma had support from the BJP-JJP, he spared no effort on his part. His victory has led to a resounding comeback of former Union Minister Venod Sharma’s family in the politics of Haryana. Kartikeya Sharma is the son of Venod Sharma. After spending a long time in politics, Venod Sharma was relatively less engaged in political activities, keeping a low profile. Now, he will be more active in Haryana politics. Hooda’s “grand” political image has been dented. He will face some challenges from within the party in the days to come. Senior leader Ajay Yadav has already opened a front against him. Former PCC chief Selja Kumari, newly-elected RS member from Rajasthan, Randeep Singh Surjewala and now expelled Kuldeep Bishnoi will not miss any chance to corner Hooda, which will make Haryana a tough turf for the Congress.