After suffering a blow in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, the state Congress is undergoing a churn. It is struggling to reach a consensus on who the next Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader would be in the Assembly, with a party section opposing former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s claim to the post.

The winter session of the new Haryana Assembly is starting from November 13. The CLP leader would assume the role of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly. Hooda was the LoP in the previous House.

Sources said “structural changes” in the state Congress unit would be carried out now in the wake of the resignation of Deepak Babaria as the Haryana party in-charge.

Babaria told The Indian Express that he has been keeping “unwell”. “I am getting regular check-ups done and have not been doing well health-wise… It is for the party high command to decide (on who will be the next CLP leader). I have not received any information as of now”.

Sources said that besides Hooda, the Congress high command was considering two party MLAs – Ashok Arora (Thanesar) and Chander Mohan (Panchkula) – for the position of the CLP leader.

Arora, a four-time MLA, was earlier the state president of the INLD. He quit to join the Congress in 2019. Chander Mohan is son of Haryana’s former CM late Bhajan Lal. He is a five-time MLA.

While Arora is considered a Hooda loyalist, Chander Mohan is from the camp of Kumari Selja, who had raised a banner of revolt before the Assembly polls over the free rein given to Hooda over the party affairs and candidate selection for the Assembly polls.

Following the Congress’s shock defeat by the incumbent BJP, which pulled off a hat-trick, Hooda and his son Deepender, an MP, were squarely blamed by several leaders for the party’s debacle. Several Congress candidates who are considered close to Selja openly criticised Hooda.

Despite this, party leaders say, Hooda continues to remain in a strong position with several MLAs backing him. Whether he will get the CLP chair will be closely watched, and would be eventually the party high command’s call.

“What the Congress high command decides shall be binding on everybody. But it is also a fact that a majority of the party MLAs are on Hooda’s side and that could be a problem if he is sidelined,” said a senior party leader.

Other Haryana Congress leaders who might be in the race to become the CLP leader are Beri MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian Beri and Jhajjar MLA Geeta Bhukkal.

A party leader said there is a possibility that the decision on the CLP leader might also be delayed.

“It is not binding on the party to announce the CLP leader before the Assembly session. The central leadership is busy in the upcoming Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls and various bypolls. But a decision will be taken soon and there is a high probability that structural changes will be done in the Haryana party unit,” another Congress leader said.

In a bid to course correct after the Assembly polls, the Congress leadership recently appointed AICC secretary Jitendra Baghel as the co-incharge of the party affairs in Haryana.

Baghel, sources said, met several Haryana Congress leaders to find out the reasons that led to the party’s poor performance in the polls in which the BJP clinched the majority with 48 seats out of 90 as against the Congress’s 37.

Baghel also held a meeting in Delhi Saturday and met several Haryana Congress candidates who lost the polls. He later said, “From discrepancies in the EVMs to anomalies in the election process, the Congress leaders cited several reasons. We also collected proof from the Congress leaders regarding their accusations. We shall be submitting a report of today’s meeting to the party high command”.