An assertive Hooda camp takes little note of Congress rule book

New Delhi: If Bhupinder Singh Hooda has to threaten rebellion to reclaim his leadership position by forcing the party high command to oust Rahul Gandhi-appointee Ashok Tanwar as Haryana PCC chief, the impressive Congress fight in the Assembly election seems to have further inspired the ex-CM to assert his ‘autonomy’. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh too has been often acting independently openly while Congress satraps in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh have been doing so subtly.

While Hooda’s election as the new Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader — and thus the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly — was a forgone conclusion given his supporters form an overwhelming majority among the 31 party MLAs, the manner in which the Hooda camp – after holding a parallel confabulation — asserted itself during Friday’s closed-door meeting of Congress MLAs in Chandigarh appeared to be a message to the High Command.

Some Congress MLAs said Hooda supporters made it clear in the meeting that electing their leader as CLP chief was a fait accompli.

The meeting was held in the presence of AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, PCC chief Kumari Selja and AICC observer Madhusudan Mistry.

Led by BB Batra and Geeta Bhukkal, the MLAs were learnt to have demanded Hooda be elected CLP leader then and there by doing away with the practice of passing a resolution, authorising Congress president to do the honours. They also objected to AICC observer Mistry holding one-on-one consultations with MLAs to “assess their views”.

Only after Azad and Selja repeatedly urged MLAs to follow the “Congress traditions”, did the Hooda camp allow the token motions of passing a resolution and Mistry holding interactions . The very next day, AICC formally announced “Sonia Gandhichoosing Hooda as CLP leader”.

Manysee in this a trend. If Hooda had to threaten rebellion to eject Tanwar, Amarinder Singh had to threaten Rahul Gandhi with a split in Punjab Congress to make him replace PS Bajwa as PCC chief.

If Singh had clipped the wings of Rahul’s then strategist Prashant Kishore during campaign and recently grounded Navjyot Sidhu , Hooda had refused to share podium with Rahul during rallies.

It is learnt that when AICC tried to increase rallies of Rahul Gandhi, even Randeep Surjewala and Kuldeep Bishnoi conveyed their inability to host his rallies.