What does Kiran and Shruti Chaudhary’s exit mean for Congress?

The daughter-in-law of Haryana’s former CM and legislator from Tosham constituency, Kiran Chaudhary along with her daughter and ex-Mp, Shruti Chaudhary joined BJP after their long innings in the congress party. The exit was expected after Kiran’s direct attacks on the party leadership in the state. Kiran and Bhupinder Singh Hooda had grudges for each other since the latter divested, Kiran from the Environment ministry in 2008 but Hooda had to reverse his decision within 24 hours on the directions of 10 Janpath.

Now, the important questions are what does the exit of the mother-daughter duo mean for the Congress party in Haryana? Will this bring in the high command to stop Hooda, making the Congress his “personal fiefdom”, as all his critics allege, or Will Hooda move on further solidifying his position as one important member of the SRK group leaves for the BJP in the state?  Firstly, with Kiran and Shruti Chaudhary’s induction into the saffron party, the state BJP got a shot in the arm after a below-par performance in the Lok Sabha elections and this would work against the Congress party, especially in the Bhiwani-Mahendargarh region where sources say Kiran campaigned against Hooda loyalist Rao Dan Singh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Kiran is carrying the legacy of one of the formidable forces in Haryana, Ch. Bansilal and it is because of Bansilal and his son Surender who had supporters in every village of Haryana, that Kiran still has a loyal vote bank in the region. 

Notably, Kiran dominates the Tosham region and since 2005 by-polls when she contested the place of her husband who died in a tragic accident that year, Kiran kept her turf of Tosham secure in 2009,2014 and 2019. The face of Kiran Chaudhary as a Jat leader will also work in favor of the BJP which is facing the ire of the Jat community in the state. In Congress, Kiran was a bitter critic of Hooda’s willfulness and politics along with Kumari Shelja and Randeep Singh Surjewala. Along with the other two, Kiran constituted the “SRK” group, which “contravened”, Hooda’s politics. Kiran was in attack mode against Hooda since the party denied Lok sabha ticket to her daughter Shruti and blamed him for making the congress party his “personal fiefdom” in her resignation letter.

But now, after Kiran’s exit from the “SRK” group only the “SR” remains, which weakens their position against the giant Hooda in the party.  Kumari Shelja’s ambitions for Haryana’s CM post are not hidden from anyone and she is giving her all to stop Hooda from taking a lead in the upcoming assembly elections. Shelja even said that Kiran and Shruti faced discrimination in the party and they deserved better in Congress.

But what goes against Shelja is that she is not a popular face outside the Hisar-Sirsa region while Hooda is known for his smart politics all over the state. While Randeep Singh Surjewala is still not a big name if we talk from the perspective of state politics, he is not anywhere near Hooda in terms of power and support in the state congress.

Nonetheless, the exit of Kiran from Congress and SRK group will indeed work as a setback for the opposition camp of Hooda ahead of the state assembly election scheduled for October. The Hooda loyalists already started portraying Kiran’s exit as “good” for the party and blamed her for playing from the BJP’s side while staying in the Congress.

Kuldeep Vats known as a staunch Hooda supporter said, “Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the leader of all the 36 biradaris in Haryana and Congress is moving ahead under his leadership to win the assembly elections.” For now, one thing is for sure with Kiran’s exit from the Congress party, the brawl has resurfaced and only time will tell how this will impact the poll performance of the Congress party in the state.