Haryana power minister Ajay Yadav quits; questions Hooda's leadership
New Delhi: The rebellion against Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda ahead of the Assembly polls escalated on Tuesday with state power minister Ajay Yadav resigning from his post and attacking the CM for ‘failing to learn lessons’ from the party’s Lok Sabha poll debacle. He is the third leader after Kum-ari Selja and Birender Singh to openly question Mr Hooda’s leadership, against the wishes of the Congress high command.
While the Congress managers may exude optimism about the party’s revival after its victory in three Uttarakhand Assembly by-elections recently, the rebe-llion and the strong anti-incumbency factor has already damaged it badly in Maharashtra.
The Congress is, in fact, on a sticky wicket in four election-bound states — Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir — due to a variety of reasons.
The Congress high command has backed Mr Hooda and Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and has not taken any steps to make the party relevant in J&K or Jharkhand.
In Chandigarh, 55-year-old six-time Congress MLA from Rewari Ajay Yadav alleged bias in development and recruitment matters and attacked the controversial induction of members of various commissions and statutory bodies and the domination of bureaucrats. Joining in the attack, Birender Singh, a known Hooda detractor, on Tuesday warned things could deteriorate and other ministers may follow suit if Mr Hooda was not replaced.
Mr Yadav said he had sent his resignation to Mr Hooda. He added, however, that he would remain in the Congress till the end and that Mrs Sonia Gandhi was his leader.
"I was power minister, but I felt powerless. Decisions were taken by officers under me and on occasion, this was done without my knowledge. This hurt my self-respect," he said.
Calling himself a Congress high command loyalist, Mr Yadav said relations with Mr Hooda started deteriorating in his second term. 'I am Sonia Gandhi's loyalist and whatever she says I will abide by. I have old relations with the Gandhi family. I had no problem with Hooda until 2009, but things started taking a different shape in his second term,' he said.
'I was made finance minister (in Hooda's second term), but even when I was carrying on well, this portfolio was snatched from me on a false ground. A CD was prepared where I was falsely accused of praising Narendra Modi, whereas I had made some comments pertaining to the agricultural policy of the Gujarat government,' he said.
'I have never praised Modi,' he clarified.
Backing Mr Yadav, Mr Birender Singh said: 'What Ajay Yadav is saying today, I have been saying for the past five years now. I have been saying there is regional bias in development.'
He said that even though it was 'Iate', Mr Yadav, a six-time MLA, 'has taken the right step'.
Mr Singh, who has already said he will not contest the coming Assembly polls if Mr Hooda is not removed, claimed if the high command did not act now, 'things are set to worsen'.
'I have information that like Yadav, others will also follow suit,' he said, and claimed another minister was 'contemplating resigning'.
Mr Singh added: 'A large number of MLAs will desert the Hooda camp and I fear the Congress may lose its majority before the polls.'
Mr Yadav said the Congress won only one seat in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, but has 'failed to learn any lessons... Somebody has to bell the cat. And so I decided to take the step'.
Asked about Mr Hooda's response to his resignation, Mr Yadav said the chief minister asked him to reconsider, but he declined to do so. 'I am waiting for the Congress high command to take a decision,' he said.
'I had detailed the reasons for the party?s defeat before the A.K. Antony panel,' he said, adding that he would soon meet the party leadership.
'I want respect. If that is not given, what else can I do' I had to make the sacrifice of resigning under compulsion when bias in matters of development... and neglect of party cadres, including MLAs, continued and the party failed to learn any lessons from the Lok Sabha debacle,' he said.
'It was essential for me to resign to give a message so that the party does not face the same situation in the forthcoming Assembly elections that it faced in the recent Lok Sabha elections,' he said.
