Manohar Lal Khattar as the BJP Chief?
With J.P. Nadda’s term (extension) as the BJP chief coming to an end in January next year it was widely believed that the party would announce his successor post Diwali. At the time it was expected that the RSS would weigh in and persuade the BJP to go in for a candidate of its choice and this would not necessarily be someone who is Modi-Shah’s first preference. The names of Shivraj Singh Chouhan or even Vasundhara Raje Scindia began doing the rounds. But after the decisive win in Haryana, it is now clear that the next BJP chief would be Modi and Shah’s first choice with no compromises. Given this, the name of Union Cabinet Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has gathered momentum for he is very close to the Prime Minister. He also has a good equation with the RSS, being a pracharak and played a key role in strategizing the Haryana win for the BJP, along with Amit Shah. Clearly this was one election that had ramifications that go far beyond its state borders.
The Congress Blame Game
As expected, a blame game has begun in Haryana over the recent electoral results. So confident was the Congress of wresting the state from the BJP that its leaders began a turf war for the Chief Ministership instead of focusing on the campaign. True, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was given a relatively free hand in the ticket selection. From all accounts, Kumari Selja got about 8 to 9 seats, while Randeep Singh Surjewala got a handful, and the Gandhis kept about 5 to 6 for their candidates. In hindsight, giving around 35 seats to Jats helped polarize the non-Jat votes away from the Congress and this is also what the BJP had based its strategy on. But this is at best a strategic error. What about the wilful mishandling of the party and the sabotage from within. The Hoodas cannot be blamed for that for which Congressman or Congresswoman wanted a Congress win in Haryana more than the Hoodas? And if Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge had not given a key role to the Hoodas, then to whom? At the time of elections, Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the tallest Congress leader from the state and its best bet to wrest the state from the BJP. No other state leader matched up to him. In fact during the 2019 Haryana elections there were many who believed that had Hooda Senior been promoted as the CM face and given a free hand then, he would have had a strong chance of winning the election, for at time the Jat vs OBC and Dalit votes were not so polarised.
So it would not be fair to blame the Hoodas for the Haryana loss. But if not them, then whom?
What was Kumari Selja up to?
Congress MP and Dalit leader from Haryana, Kumari Selja’s role during the elections needs further scrutiny. She was the most vocal dissident within the party raising a voice against the free hand given to the Hoodas. She was not the only one who was upset, even Randeep Surjewala was reportedly not happy but he did not make such a spectacle of his grievances. Was it just a coincidence that the normally reticent Selja suddenly decided to go so public with her tale of woe, targeting the Hoodas, right on the eve of the crucial polls? Suddenly she was everywhere, on every television channel and YouTube and newspaper telling the public all that was wrong with the Hoodas. Given the fact that it was the Hoodas who were the face of
the Congress campaign, this in a way was a campaign against the party’s choice. Her going public with her “sidelining” also fed into the BJP campaign that all that the Congress cared about was the Jat vote and not the Dalits, Backwards and OBCs. As a Congress leader quipped, Selja ended up helping the BJP more by staying within the party than had she left the party.
Rahul & the I.N.D.I.A bloc
The recent results have certainly dented Rahul Gandhi’s position within the I.N.D.I.A bloc. The Aam Admi Party and the Samajwadi Party were keen to contest from Haryana but for reasons of its own the Congress decided against accommodating them. At the time it made sense as neither had real stakes in the state and wanted to expand at the Congress party’s expense. Now this same logic will be used against the Congress in Delhi and the Uttar Pradesh bypolls. Akhilesh Yadav has wasted no time in announcing six of the 10 seats due to go for the bypolls without any discussions with the Congress. These include a couple that had been demanded by the Congress including Phulpur. This will also impact Congress party’s bargaining power with its allies in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls due in November.
The Uddhav Thackeray Sena is demanding that the alliance fight the poll with him as the Chief Minister face. This is something that the Maharashtra unit of the Congress is not keen on but the central leadership may be left with little choice. Already the murmurs about Rahul’s leadership that he had silenced post the Lok Sabha have begun resurfacing within the allies. After declaring his candidate suo moto, Akhilesh Yadav was quick to scotch rumours of any disillusionment with the Congress, but he has clearly done a reality check. As has Uddhav Thackeray.