Hooda faces acid test, again

Hooda faces acid test, again

Two by-elections in Haryana, the campaigning for which ended on Monday, are set to test political prowess of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Congress.

Though the outcome on December 4 would not affect any of the three parties and formations (Congress, INLD, HJC-BJP combine) in the Assembly, the long-term implications could be significant.

Ratia and Adampur by-polls on November 30 come close on the heels of the defeat of Congress in the Hisar Lok Sabha by-polls which saw the ruling party in Haryana face the ignominy of losing its security deposit. Now, if Congress loses both Ratia and Adampur, it will be a hat-trick of defeats, something which the central party leadership would find difficult to swallow. To make matters worse, chances of Congress winning any of the two seats is extremely slim given that the party has marginal presence in the poll-bound segments.

Ironically, all three seats — first Hisar and now Ratia and Adampur — have been held by the Opposition in the State and Congress was in any case on flimsy grounds here. Hisar fell vacant after the death of Bhajan Lal, a stalwart of Haryana politics and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi stepped into the shoes of his father successfully by crushing the Congress and edging past INLD.

Ratia, a traditional seat of the Opposition - first the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Congress and later, Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD, fell vacant due to the death of INLD MLA Gyan Chand Odh. Congress has never won from here in almost the past 30 years but if it doesn’t do so now, when the focus is on this non-Jat constituency, questions would certainly be raised regarding the popularity of Hooda and Congress.

Similarly, Adampur has been a family stronghold of Bhajan Lal and the seat fell vacant after Bishnoi got elected from Hisar in the parliamentary by-poll.

No one, even the staunchest Congress supporter, is enthusiastic about the result which they say is a foregone conclusion. Renuka Bishnoi, the wife of Kuldeep is set to make her debut in the State Assembly from this seat, inevitable even according to her opponents.

It is a strange quirk of fate that Hooda had to battle out Hisar and now two by-elections all of which have been traditional weak links of the Congress.

Politically, if he manages even a single win now, it would be an achievement but if he loses all two seats, knives would be out for him in the faction-ridden State unit.

Already a section of powerful Haryana leaders like AICC General Secretary Birender Singh and Union Minister Selja are running a campaign against him and three consecutive defeats would only make the matters worse for Hooda who has been in power for seven years now. Hisar defeat sharpened differences between Hooda and his detractors and two more defeats will take it to a point of no return, observers felt.