On Thursday, 11th October, former Haryana Minister and Congress’s Other Backward Class (OBC) chairman Ajay Yadav blamed mismanagement and poor coordination among the national and state leadership for the debacle in Haryana elections. Yadav accused National General Secretary KC Venugopal of being unreachable during the elections. Yadav’s statement came at a time when Congress was blaming EVMs for the Haryana election defeat. Though Yadav echoed the sentiment to some extent during an interview with news agency ANI, he primarily blamed the party leadership for the loss.
Ajay Yadav suggested that the party should introspect over the failure in the Ahirwal belt in Haryana, where 10 out of 11 seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said, “Ahirwal has no representation in the Congress Working Committee, the party’s central election committee, the All India Congress Committee, or the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. The party has appointed me as OBC national chairman, which is of no use as it is toothless. We lost the election because there was no coordination between the state and national leadership.”
In a post on X, Yadav wrote, “The party should introspect on its failure in southern Haryana, especially Gurugram, Rewari, Mahendragarh, and Faridabad, where it won just one seat. Ahirwal has no representation in the CWC, CEC, AICC general secretaries, or even in the HPCC. The AICC OBC chairmanship is an eyewash and toothless.”
The party should introspect for its failure in southern Haryana especially Gurugram, Rewari, Mahendragarh and Faridabad where it won just 1 seat. Ahirwal has no representation in CWC, CEC , AICC General Secretaries and even in HPCC. @RahulGandhi Chairman AICC OBC is a eyewash…
— Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav Chairman AICC OBC Congress (@CaptAjayYadav) October 9, 2024
In another post on X, he criticised the Congress for its inability to control the narrative, as there were reports of infighting within Haryana Congress for the Chief Minister post before securing the mandate from the people.
Tussle in Haryana Congress for becoming CM before getting the people’s mandate was a big blunder.
— Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav Chairman AICC OBC Congress (@CaptAjayYadav) October 9, 2024
Elaborating on his post while speaking to ANI, he said, “When elections are held, winning is the primary goal, and if tussles for the CM post emerge in the media at that time, it is not a good sign for the party. First, secure the mandate, and after that, decide who will become the CM. This decision cannot be made by any one person; it is made by the MLAs. So I believe there are many issues.”
#WATCH | Gurugram, Haryana: Congress leader Ajay Singh Yadav says, "When elections are held, winning is the biggest goal and at that time if the tussle for the CM post comes in the media then it is not a good sign for the party. First, take the mandate and after the mandate you… pic.twitter.com/tUlxG3Bkz8
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2024
He also accused the party of not assigning a new state in-charge when Deepak Babaria was hospitalised. Yadav said, “When the party’s state in-charge Deepak Babaria was hospitalised, why was his duty not assigned to another leader? The party’s state chief, Udai Bhan, was contesting himself, so he failed to take proper feedback and help the candidates in finalising the strategy.”
Interestingly, Ajay Yadav alleged that senior party leaders from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had asked him to make arrangements for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in his area. However, Gandhi never visited. Yadav also pointed out that Kumari Selja did not visit Rewari due to the unavailability of a helicopter. He said, “We finalised Kumari Selja’s programme in Rewari, but she expressed an unwillingness to attend due to the unavailability of a helicopter.”
Furthermore, Yadav noted that a statement by Mamman Khan, the sitting MLA from Ferozpur Jhirka, also worked against the party. He said, “Our sitting MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka, Mamman Khan, won by a huge margin because the majority of voters were Muslim there, but his controversial remarks contributed to our defeat. The campaign was led by individuals, and other leaders were missing. We lost due to polarisation and poor election management.”
Mamman khan MLA Ferozepur Zirka should apologise for his offensive and communal statement made during election campaign for a particular community
— Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav Chairman AICC OBC Congress (@CaptAjayYadav) October 9, 2024
Ajay Yadav is not the only Congress leader blaming the party leadership for the Haryana election defeat. Senior Congress leader and Rohtak MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra said that poor management and overconfidence among party leaders and workers led to the loss. He said, “In the last week of the campaign, huge polarisation of SCs and OBCs was observed, and that worked in favour of the BJP. We need to reconsider where we went wrong.”
However, he refuted allegations made by former Assandh MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi that Congress lost due to infighting and an over-reliance on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He added that Gogi often makes biased remarks against Hooda whenever he has the opportunity.
An unnamed senior leader was quoted by the Hindustan Times saying that party leaders were inactive during the elections, which led to the defeat. He said, “Our top leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Ajay Yadav, and Randeep Surjewala did not share the stage even once. In two rallies, Hooda and Selja were present, but other leaders were missing. The BJP succeeded in convincing people that all was not well within Haryana Congress, and the assembly results reflect that.”
Congress blamed EVMs for Haryana defeat
After the defeat in assembly election in Haryana, the Congress party again started to blame Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). However, they brought some changes to the allegation. In a bizarre accusation, the party claimed that EVMs with different levels of battery charge gave different results. Refuting their accusations, the Election Commission explained that while fully charged batteries are inserted in EVMs before the polls, the charge level continues to come down with the use of the machines in mock poll, actual voting and counting. The same accusations were echoed by Yadav in statement to ANI.
With inputs from ANI
