Haryana Polls 2024: Decoding Congress’s Kumari Selja conundrum ahead of October 5 D-Day

Union Home Minister Amit Shah Monday labelled the Congress as an “anti-Dalit” party for insulting Dalit leaders, including Kumari Selja. Amit Shah was campaigning in Haryana, where assembly elections are scheduled for October 5.

“The Congress party has always insulted Dalit leaders, be it Ashok Tanwar or sister Kumari Selja,” said the Home Minister, referring to Kumari Selja, the Sirsa Member of Parliament, who is reportedly ‘unhappy’ for being sidelined in the Congress party. Tanwar, former Congress president of Haryana, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in January this year. 

Two days ago, Union minister and former chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, also invited Selja to join the BJP.

In the past few days, Shah, Khattar, and other senior BJP leaders, including chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, have hit out at the Congress party for 'insulting' Selja, the AICC general secretary and Sirsa MP.

Absence triggers speculation

Selja’s absence from the Congress campaign in Haryana triggered speculation about her next move, especially since the grand old party seems confident of making a comeback in the state after a decade.

Selja was last seen in the campaign on September 11, when she drummed up support for Shalley Chaudhary, the Congress’s candidate in the Naraingarh Assembly constituency, and Shamsher Singh Gogi, the party’s Assandh nominee.

Selja has stayed at her Delhi residence over the past ten days, meeting with party workers. She was conspicuous by her absence even during the Congress party’s manifesto release event at the AICC headquarters in Delhi on September 18.

Selja, one of the prominent Dalit faces in the Congress, however, responded to BJP’s invites on Monday. “BJP leaders should refrain from giving me advice,” said 61-year-old Selja at the Panchayat AajTak event.

‘Unhappy' over ticket distribution

Haryana Congress is known for its factions. Selja and another AICC general secretary, Randeep Surjewala, are known critics of the camp led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Reports suggested that Selja is ‘upset’ over the ticket distribution for the assembly polls to the 90 seats in Haryana. She had sought 30 to 35 seats for her camp, but the Congress ultimately allotted 72 tickets to the faction led by Bhupinder Hooda, according to a report in The Print. 

Selja, sources said, failed to secure tickets for her aides even in her Lok Sabha seat, Sirsa, which she won by over 2.6 lakh votes in the 2024 general elections.

What made matters worse was a casteist remark made against Selja by a Congress worker last week during the nomination event of Jassi Petwad, the Congress candidate for Narnaund. Petwad is considered close to Deepender Hooda, son of Bhupinder Hooda. The incident, which went viral on social media, prompted the Haryana Congress leadership, including Bhupinder Hooda, to issue condemnation.

Kharge intervenes

Selja is, however, expected to join the campaign on September 26. The MP, who has been sulking over being sidelined by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda camp, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on September 22. 

Selja’s absence from the campaign had raised concerns for the Congress party, especially for the Dalit community, which comprises about 20 percent of the votes in Haryana. There are 17 Scheduled Caste-reserved seats in the 90-member Haryana assembly, and Selja holds good command in most of these seats.

“Kumari Selja has solidified her position as the Dalit community’s representative in Haryana. She emerged as a powerful leader during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by winning with an overwhelming margin. This connection was reflected in the overwhelming support the Congress received from Dalit voters during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Haryana,” Jyoti Mishra, a researcher at the Centre for Studies on Democratic Societies (CSDS), told The Print.

Selja, it is learnt, agreed to resume the election campaign after Kharge asked her to ‘sort out’ differences with Hooda and, instead, focus on winning the election. 

Selja has had issues with Hooda earlier too. In April 2022, she had met Sonia Gandhi and resigned as President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee over her differences with Hooda. Selja is said to be close to Sonia Gandhi. 

Congress needs both

Congress cannot afford to annoy Selja and Hooda. A Dalit leader in Selja will help to seek the votes within the community, comprising about one-fifth of electorate in Haryana. It also goes with Rahul Gandhi’s stand on reservations and caste census. The significance of Dailt votes is even more in this election given the alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). 

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar’s Aazad Samaj Party (ASP) is also in the fray as an alliance partner of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

Conversely, Hooda is a popular leader of Jats, a community pivotal for Congress fortunes in Haryana with an estimated 25 percent of voters. Hooda, the former two-time chief minister, played a significant role in Congress wresting five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats from the ruling BJP in the 2024 general elections. A large part of the credit for this success has been attributed to Hooda.

“My good friend (Kumari) Selja ji has not said a single word against Mr Hooda, nor has Mr Hooda said a word against Ms Selja. So we are a united party. We will fight this election in a united manner,” Congress leader P Chidambaram said recently.