Surjewala gains in stature

CHANDIGARH: The manner in which IndianYouth Congress president Randeep Singh Surjewala conducted himself in the wakeof the controversy over the candidature for Hisar parliamentary seat in Haryanahas added to his stature and position in the Congress party. He has shown bothmaturity and restraint, the two hallmarks of a successful politician, whileexpressing his resentment over the denial of party ticket to him for thisseat.He first resigned in protest against what his supporters callbreach of trust because the party leadership had assured him that he would bethe party candidate for the Hisar seat. Later, under pressure from two seniorstate leaders, he was dropped and the seat was allotted to Jai Prakash despitethe fact that there was strong rumours in political circles that in the event ofdenial of ticket to him (Jai Prakash) he would shift over to the BJP and contestfrom Hisar on that party’s ticket.It is an honour for Randeep,say Youth Congress activists in Haryana and Punjab, that party president SoniaGandhi personally intervened in the matter, rejected his resignation andpersuaded him to continue as Youth Congress president. Randeep on his partassured her that he would whole-heartedly campaign for party candidates in allthe ten parliamentary constituencies in the state.The episode has,no doubt, paved the way for him to play a bigger role in the coming Assemblyelections in the state.What is disturbing for Congress workers inHaryana is that such episodes have added to the rampant factionalism within theparty. The bitterness with which various factions fought for allotment oftickets to their candidates will naturally make it difficult for them tocampaign in support of the candidates of the rival factions. So much is thebitterness among senior leaders over the allotment of tickets that it would bedifficult even for HPCC president Bhajan Lal to coordinate the election campaigneffectively. In fact, these factional leaders confess in private that they donot want the leaders of other factions to come to the constituencies of theircandidates for canvassing.It seems ruling Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) president and chief minister Om Prakash Chautala was not off the markwhen recently at a press conference he remarked that the Congress was in a stateof confusion and all its senior leaders in the state were busy projectingthemselves as chief ministerial candidates because the Assembly elections werescheduled to be held early next year.