Exactly a fortnight after former Punjab Chief Minister >Amarinder Singh took on the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa by organising a rally against drug addiction in Amritsar as a platform to show his strength former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday sounded a similar call of dissidence against State unit chief Ashok Tanwar by organising a lunch diplomacy which witnessed the participation of all State party legislators.
Incidentally, in both the stories there are also the third poles – represented by senior women leaders who also head the Congress Legislature Party in their respective States. So while it is former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in Punjab, in Haryana it is former Minister Kiran Chaudhary, who made a short appearance at Mr. Hooda’s lunch.
Though organised as part of the house warming for his new bungalow, from its tone and tenor it was clear that Mr Hooda’s lunch was meant to send a strong signal to the party high command that he remained the leader with the tallest stature in the State. It comes at a time when the Pradesh Congress under Mr Tanwar has organised a three-day workshop here.
Ever since he lost the Assembly election to BJP three months ago, Mr Hooda has been smarting under the burden of the defeat as also the fact that his recommendation for the post of State Legislature Party leader had been overlooked by the party high command. While Mr Hooda had wanted the post to be given to former education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, much to his chagrin the Congress made Ms Chaudhary the CLP leader.
Prior to that Mr. Hooda had also not been able to get tickets for all the candidates of his choice. Earlier the appointment of Ashok Tanwar to the post of State unit president by the party was also a clear signal to Mr Hooda that it is not his writ but that of the party high command and of vice-president Rahul Gandhi in particular that would run in the State.
It is in this backdrop that Mr. Hooda’s lunch, which attracted hundreds of senior party leaders, assumes significance. The former CM claims to enjoy the support of 14 of the 15 party legislators in the State and all of them attended his lunch. Then there were also a large number of former MLAs and past and present office-bearers who attended.
As in the case of Captain Amarinder Singh, it is now very clear that Mr Hooda also wants to be heard by the party central leadership. Mr Gandhi had recently met party MLAs from Punjab in Delhi to know who they actually think of as their leader.
