Hooda's moves end in anti-climax as state stalwart loses the plot again

CHANDIGARH: After Congress staged a strong comeback, winning five of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had emerged as the man of the moment for his party. Now, his inability to secure a majority for Congress to return to office in Haryana after a 10-year hiatus is likely to have a major impact on his political career, especially as his detractors have already started criticising his leadership.
Given a free hand in ticket distribution and to lead the poll campaign, Hooda managed to get tickets for 72 of his loyalists but Congress fell short of the 46 seats needed to form govt.
In 2019, Hooda's supporters and aides had said that had he been given full control of ticket distribution he could have ensured Congress's return in Haryana. In that election, Congress fell just 15 seats short of forming govt; this time, it was nine seats from a comeback.
The results of the latest state polls have provided Congress's central leadership with a compelling reason to reassess and re-strategise. Hooda's critics within Congress have pointed to his centralisation of power in the state unit leadership as a key contributor to the setback. They argue that the departure of senior netas like Kiran Chaudhary & Kuldeep Bishnoi from the party in the recent past (they had accused Hooda of monopolising control) has now become a focal point for renewed criticism.
Interestingly, Congress' leadership had picked Bhupinder Hooda as the party's new face in state politics by dislodging the stalwart Bhajan Lal in 2005. Hooda, then 57, had no administrative experience, was not an MLA in the state, and represented Rohtak Lok Sabha seat. He had become a star of Haryana politics in 1991 when he had defeated former deputy PM Devi Lal from Rohtak.
By choosing Hooda, a Jat, the party high command sent a clear message that it wanted to give Haryana's populace a strong alternative to the Chautala family, whose stronghold lay in the rural belt and which led INLD, the most influential regional party in Haryana.
However, within months of taking the reins of the state, Hooda not only took control of the party's state unit but also became a mass leader, demolishing his opponents in Congress as well in opposition INLD. He sidelined the Bhajan Lal family and their politics and even forced the former Congress stalwart to form his own outfit, Haryana Janhit Congress, led by his son Kuldeep Bishnoi. However, he shattered Kuldeep's dreams when, after the 2009 assembly polls, he managed to convince five of Kuldeep's MLAs to defect and merge with Congress to give an otherwise Congress minority govt a majority.
Hooda has also faced several CBI & ED cases and has been accused of extending benefits to the Gandhi family, to Robert Vadra's companies, and of providing plots to Associated Journals Ltd, publisher of "National Herald" newspaper.