Kumari Selja, who has for a large part of her political career been a prominent name in national politics, has made it extremely clear through her campaign that her focus is now the state politics of Haryana, and she is very much a contender for the chief minister’s post.
Selja is a veteran of many Lok Sabha battles and has had a substantial stint in the Rajya Sabha as well. She has also been a minister in the Union government.
However, since 2019, Selja’s focus has been her home state Haryana and she has made an effort to become a leader to reckon with in the rough and tumble of the politics of the northern state.
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She was made PCC president of Haryana in September 2019, just ahead of the assembly elections that took place in October. She was the counterweight to the indomitable Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who draws his strength from the support of the Jat community. While she headed the organisation, Hooda was the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.
The Congress did come close to unseating the BJP in Haryana in 2019. It was believed that had the party got its act together well ahead of the elections and dealt with infighting, it could have won.
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The 61-year-old Selja has been campaigning vigorously in Haryana for the assembly polls. She has been undertaking a Janadesh Yatra in the state without Hooda who is otherwise pretty much in charge of the Congress’ campaign in the state. The messaging is clear – she is reaching out to the people on her own dint, and she is a force to reckon with. That she won the Lok Sabha election from Sirsa by a huge margin has added to her heft.
What adds to Selja’s importance is her Dalit identity. At a time when the Congress hopes to benefit from the palpable anger in the Jat community with regard to the incumbent BJP government, the ruling party is attempting to consolidate its support amongst the other communities. It is here that Selja becomes important for the Congress because she can help the party get the support of the Dalit community.
Selja is also known to be close to the Gandhi family, and in 2019, when she was made the PCC president, it was believed that former party chief Rahul Gandhi wanted there to be a counterbalance to Hooda’s dominance in the state unit.
