While the Congress has attempted a balancing act by elevating former state minister Rao Narender Singh, who belongs to the OBC community, as the president of its Haryana unit, the appointment of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader underscores that he continues to wield significant influence in the party’s state affairs.

Hooda’s delayed appointment — coming nearly a year after the Congress suffered a “shock” defeat in the Assembly elections, attributed largely to his “non-accommodative” stance towards rival factions during ticket distribution — is seen as a result of his firm hold on most of the party’s 37 MLAs and his strong ties with the farming community in Haryana as well as neighbouring Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

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