Own man blames Hooda for Cong defeat

Less than a week after the Congress poor show in the assembly elections, the first volley of blame for outgoing chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has come from his own loyalist, Raghuvir Kadian.

The Beri legislator has accused Hooda of giving the bureaucracy absolute freedom so that he could run a one-man show, and placating junior legislators with cabinet berths. The Congress, which ruled Haryana since 2005, finished with just 15 seats in recent assembly elections and had won just one of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in April.

Kadian interacted with reporters on Friday at his house in Rohtak. Asked about the disappointing performance of the grand old party, the four-time legislator, who has remained assembly speaker, said: “Had the leader in power reined in bureaucracy in time, the result could have been different.”

Without naming Hooda, he said the power had remained centralised and several first-time legislators had received cabinet berths, leading to resentment in the party and decline in the Congress popularity. “The party leadership has not introspected why it lost both the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections in 2014, but I feel a focus on these things could have put us in a position to lead the state again,” said Kadian.

Hooda’s long-time detractors, former irrigation minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav and Rajya Sabha member Kumari Selja, have blamed him already but Kadian is the first loyalist to share their views.