Bhupendra Singh Hooda is not going to leave the field. The Congress high command and some leaders around it felt as if they were shocked by this defeat and perhaps Hooda himself would be sidelined. It was also believed that after this defeat, Hooda’s political and moral strength has reduced and hence he may be marginalised. Such conditions were visible for a few days after the results. It seemed that Hooda had gone into depression. But now all things have changed. Only a week after the results, he and his family geared up again. It is because of Hooda being active again and ready to fight for next five years, Congress in Haryana has not been able to select the leader of the legislative party and the assembly session has started.
When the Speaker was elected in the Assembly session, the way Hooda showed activism inside the House is an indication that the leader is not going to leave the opposition chair. When he took a dig at the newly elected Speaker for not being called to take him to the seat, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini himself came to pacify him. Then Hooda congratulated him and both of them displayed a lot of self-confidence. Since Congress has not yet elected the leader of the legislature party, Hooda was not officially included in the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, but unofficially his conduct inside the House was that of a leader. He also took a dig at senior BJP leader Anil Vij and later an intimate photo of Hooda with BJP leaders went viral.
Earlier, when former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had come to seek the opinion of the MLAs as a party observer, Hooda had demonstrated his power. 31 out of 37 Congress MLAs had reached Hooda’s house. It was clear from this that like last time, this time too Hooda wants to keep the command of the party in his hands. In fact, he knows that as soon as the leader of his legislative party leaves the post, he will lose control of the party. He also knows that if the command of the State Congress goes out of his hands then it will not come into the hands of his son Deependra Hooda either. The reason for this is that along with Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala, now a big challenge has also come from Ashok Tanwar. Only then do they want to maintain their hold. The dream which was not fulfilled this time has been saved for the next time.
The second thing is that the MLAs of Hooda group are feeling that a bomb of Haryana election results will explode in a few days. They are believing that BJP’s victory was due to the machine and in six months something will be leaked from somewhere, which will reveal the truth. That’s why the command should remain in the hands of Hooda only. Thirdly, Hooda supporters believe that the vote that Congress has got is Hooda’s vote. The party got around 40 percent votes in his name and got 37 seats. Therefore there is no reason to leave the command. He has recovered from the shock and is now ready to fight for five years to make Deepender Hooda the CM.