If the ruling Congress in Haryana has suffered a drop of 7.3 per cent in vote share as compared to the Lok Sabha elections barely six months ago, a lot of it has to do with the party itself.

The party’s campaign remained fragmented and disorganised, with almost all senior leaders functioning on their own. The only campaigner for the Congress pan Haryana was Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who apart from solo campaigns, accompanied all senior central leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi on their visits to the state.

Party chief Phool Chand Mullana, who was supposed to be leading the state-wide campaign, was himself a candidate and remained confined to his constituency. No one was available at party headquarters here to provide information on the itinerary of main leaders, including the Chief Minister. Even journalists who wished to trail the leaders or cover rallies remained in the dark as there was no one to give their exact location. There was no one to coordinate the campaign or be in touch with the media.

The second senior-most leader of the party, Finance Minister Birender Singh, who has always remained daggers drawn with Hooda, was confined to his constituency, Uchana Kalan, where he faced the might of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala. He held stray meetings in adjoining constituencies but was neither invited by Hooda to campaign elsewhere nor did he invite the Chief Minister to campaign for him. In the end he lost to Chautala by a narrow margin.

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