“Chief Minister Decision With High Command”: Congress’ Kumari Selja To NDTV

Congress MP Kumari Selja has confirmed she is a contender for the post of Chief Minister if her party wins the 2024 Haryana Assembly election. Speaking to NDTV Ms Selja said, “Yes. I am among the contenders to be Chief Minister… but the final decision is with the party high command.”

Ms Selja also said the people of Haryana “know their future is (with the) Congress”.

“The electorate looks at their future… and they know their future is Congress,” she said, saying that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and effort by workers on the ground will translate into a win.

On her party’s chances of upsetting the Bharatiya Janata Party – which is bidding for a third consecutive win in the Hindi heartland state – Ms Selja said, “It is natural to have fatigue (referring to the anti-incumbency vote)… there was also the BJP’s misrule. That was a big factor.”

The Congress had raced into an early lead as postal ballots and early votes were counted, but it was soon pegged back, with the ruling party then crossing the halfway mark soon after.

The party, though, remains confident it will eventually prevail. Ms Selja said, “As counting progresses, we will win more than 60 Assembly seats and Congress will form the government.”

The race to form the Haryana government is, of course, the big story.

But there is a subplot within the Congress camp, with senior leaders Ms Selja and Bhupinder Hooda going head-to-head to be named Chief Minister. Mr Hooda is raring for a third term; he made it clear he is “neither tired nor retired” but also said the party HQ, and its elected MLAs, will take the call.

Ms Selja – who won the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat in the April-June election – has been more circumspect, having told NDTV earlier, “Why should I ‘stake claim’? Why should it be about ‘staking claim’?”