The detractors and the main opposition party INLD are, however, opposing the policy on different grounds. The Congress dissenters do not want acquisition of farmers fertile lands. The INLD’s charge is that the land is acquired for government projects but released to builders and developers for making huge financial gains. The opposition quotes the High Court’s numerous orders reprimanding the state government for its land release decisions.

Economic issues are not without their political overtones. Howsoever genuine the Congress dissenters stand is, it has also its political overtones. Before we analyse the political aspect, some aspects of the acquisition policy need to be dwelt upon.

There is logic in the government’s stand that land needs to be acquired for government projects and for social welfare schemes. The government has already steeply raised acquisition rates an exemplary feature of which is payment of long-term annuity to farmers whose land is acquired. An appreciating Congress’s central leadership has asked the other Congress-ruled states to follow Haryana’s example.

One cannot, however, find fault with the opposition’s stand that releasing acquired lands to builders at the acquisitioned price which is always much below the market rates is not only an injustice to the land owners but also dearly costs the state exchequer. It is not without reason that the High Court has passed strictures against the government releasing the acquired lands to builders and developers. This has given a boost to the opposition to intensify its anti-Hooda offensive.

Taking a cue from the Karnataka Governor’s permission for registration of a case against the state’s BJP Chief Minister in land scam cases, the INLD has also now decided to seek the state Governor’s permission for registration of a case against Hooda for what it describes as land scam. Besides, the party has also decided to organize protests outside the districts headquarters and ‘gherao’ Parliament on March 2. Interestingly while INLD leadership has accused the ruling leadership of acting as property dealers, Congress leaders charge the Chautala family with acting as land grabbers during the INLD rule.

Dissensions and factionalism sow seeds of power struggle. The land acquisition policy has provided Hooda’s hitherto low-lying party detractors an opportunity to again become active. During Hooda’s 2005-2010 tenure his main detractors included the then Finance Minister Birender Singh, Union Minister Kumari Selja and Forest Minister Kiran Chaudhury. There were some others like Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav, now Finance Minister who, however, had laid low then. Birender Singh who was a hot candidate for Chief Ministership after the 2005 Congress victory lost in the Assembly election and shifted to the Centre to become Rajya Sabha member. The over-ambitious Kiran Chaudhury did not find a ministerial berth in the present Hooda ministry. After being kept out of the ministry for over a year she has been inducted in the recently reshuffled Hooda ministry. Although she has not yet given any indication about her future role, her one year wilderness in the power corridors must have had sobered her ambitions.

In the new situation Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav has now assumed the role of Birender Singh not only as Finance Minister but also for spearheading, along with Kumari Selja, the detractors group using the controversial land acquisition policy as their main plank. Explaining his stand, Capt. Yadav recently said that differences were a part of the inner democracy in the Congress.

Speculative interpretation of events is an essential part of political reporting. Its latest example is provided by the last week’s Haryana Youth Congress function held in Chandigarh for launching of the membership drive of the All-India Youth Congress which was to start from Haryana. The HYC is headed by Chiranjeev Rao, son of Finance Minister Capt. Yadav both of whom have opposed the land acquisition policy.

Chief Minister Hooda who was to be the chief guest for launching the membership drive, however, skipped the function. The drive was postponed and the function was converted into a “sammelan”. One was not surprised when Hooda’s absence at the function was interpreted by some as an indication of “growing differences” in the ruling party.

Inquiries, however, reveal that Hooda who was in Delhi that day and was to fly to Chandigarh for the function to launch the membership drive got the information that the function would not be held. The reason: Under the amended Congress constitution approved by the AICC’s plenary session recently held at Burari, tenures of all Congress and its front organizations members will be five years instead of three years. Since new membership enrolment forms stipulating five years tenures had not been received even by the Haryana PCC, enrolment of new members for Youth Congress or state Congress committees could not be started. That was the reason for Hooda and even All India Youth Congress President Rajiv Satvak’s absence at the Youth Congress’s Chandigarh function.

Tussles between ruling parties and opposition are proof of healthy functioning of democracy. But what form the revived dissenting voices in the ruling party fueled by the government’s controversial land acquisition policy takes will decide the future course of state Congress politics. It will be too presumptuous to make any predictions about the course. After all, Haryana’s land acquisition policy including compulsions behind releasing acquired lands may not have been without the knowledge of the central Congress leadership. (IPA Service)