Congress’s troubles in Haryana are not going to end any time soon. Congress, which was out of power for 10 years, was expected to form the government this time but it could not form the government even after getting 40 percent votes. Now we have to remain out of power for five more years. Bhupendra Singh Hooda, who kept the Congress united despite being out of power and took it from 20 percent votes in 2014 to 40 percent, is 77 years old and it does not seem possible that he will lead the party even after five years. Congress will contest elections under his leadership. It is also unlikely that he will transfer the command of the party to his active son Deependra Hooda in the same way as he has. Deependra will be a strong leader, but he is not going to have sole command.
Meanwhile, there is news that efforts for unity have started in the family of Omprakash Chautala. Chautala’s two sons Abhay and Ajay Chautala will come along. It is being said that the completely ruined Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party will be merged with the Indian National Lok Dal. Omprakash Chautala has understood that the success that Jannayak Janata Party got in 2019 was a coincidence and the real party is the Indian National Lok Dal. Therefore, he will return to his father’s party along with his two sons Dushyant and Digvijay Chautala. He also has no problem in accepting the leadership of his younger brother Abhay Chautala. If the Chautala family is united and Hooda’s power in Congress weakens, then Jats will have no problem in going with Chautala. This is the real challenge of Congress.
It is noteworthy that in 2014, when Congress was defeated and out of power and BJP government was formed, INLD was the main opposition party. Congress had moved to third place. Even before that, INLD had been the main opposition party for 10 years. In the 2014 elections, Omprakash Chautala’s party got 24 percent votes and Congress got 20 percent votes. After this, when INLD got divided in 2019 and Dushyant Chautala contested separately, Dushyant’s party got 15 percent votes and Chautala’s party got only 2.5 percent votes. This time both came clean. Both fought in separate alliances and INLD got 4.14 percent votes and JJP got 0.90 percent votes. That means both together got only five percent of the votes.
The reason for this was that the Jat vote completely went with the Congress. Even if Hooda’s leadership does not change, he will not be able to generate hope among the Jats like before. Chautala family can do this work. Leaving aside Omprakash Chautala, two generations are still active and contesting elections. Only then the Congress leadership will have to make a fresh strategy for Haryana. Now, instead of returning to the government, Congress has to worry more about preserving its Jat votes and remaining the main opposition party. The election of the leader of the legislature party will reveal what the Congress’s strategy is. The meeting of the legislature party is on October 18 and before that, 31 out of 37 MLAs have reached Hooda’s house and expressed their confidence in him.