Congress in Haryana is Hooda-Centric, says bangar leader

JIND: Making a scathing attack on former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Birender Singh, stated that Haryana Congress has become a party centered around Hooda. He emphasized that if Congress wants to survive in the state, it must move beyond this.

Singh said that for the past 15 years, Bhupinder Hooda has been the dominant leader of Haryana Congress. Hooda has limited Congress to himself, and it should not be the case that all powers in the party are concentrated in the hands of a single individual. If the party had been truly public and the organization was strong, the results in the assembly elections could have been much better.

Birender Singh also pointed out that after Congress’s defeat in Haryana, state president Udaybhan should have, at the very least, offered his resignation on moral grounds. Lack of an organized structure in Congress over the past 15 years made it difficult for the party’s workers to fight the election effectively, he added.

Regarding EVMs, he said the issue isn't with the machines themselves, but with those who design and operate them. After all, a human being creates and controls the machines, and they could always manipulate them. To make democracy healthy, voting should take place using ballot papers instead of EVMs. He believed that if the elections had been held using ballot papers, the results would have been different. Media and BJP leaders had already admitted that they were not expecting a victory this time, he said.

The former minister also stated that regional parties like JJP and INLD should put aside their personal interests and join Congress, as it is a major political party. He added that JJP has already faced the consequences of aligning with BJP. BJP's strategy is to bring regional parties together for their own interests, thereby weakening them.

When questioned about the future of JJP and INLD, Birender Singh remarked that these parties had betrayed regional sentiments. Dushyant Chautala promised to send people across the Yamuna River, only to later align himself with the same BJP. Voters had supported him against BJP, but later, he joined forces with them.