Newly appointed Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Rao Narender Singh, a Backward Class leader, feels that the absence of a full organizational structure for a long time worked against the party during last year’s assembly elections. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr Narender Singh said his priority was to strengthen the organization in the state and expand it to the booth and village levels.
The Congress president, who took over the reins of the party more than a week ago, said that voters in Haryana had decided to give power to the Congress in the Assembly elections in October last year. However, the BJP hatched a “conspiracy to steal the mandate”.
“Our party is now working seriously to address structural deficiencies. Two months ago, it appointed district presidents as part of the ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’, not on the basis of recommendations but on the basis of an internal survey,” the three-time MLA said.
Former Health Minister Mr. Narender Singh won his first assembly election in 1996 on the Congress symbol and again in 2000. In 2009, he contested on the Haryana Janhit Congress ticket and won, but soon after returned to the Congress and was appointed as a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government.
Strengthening base
On September 29, after a year’s deliberation in the party, Mr Narender Singh and Mr Hooda were appointed as the state unit chief and leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). Mr. Singh has replaced Udai Bhan, who hails from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, as party unit chief.
Enumerating his priorities, Mr. Narender Singh said the next step would be to form executive committees at the state and district levels and extend the organizational structure to the stall and village levels. “I want to reach out to every person in Haryana who believes in Congress,” he said. His priorities also include the party’s “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” campaign to all corners of the state.
Ahead of the upcoming elections, Mr Narender Singh said his biggest challenge would be to take the party’s policies and programs to the grassroots level and establish “direct contact between party workers and senior leaders”. However, the 62-year-old leader added that it was not only his responsibility but that of all party workers, officials, MPs, MLAs and former legislators.
Resolution of dissent
Asked about the infighting in the party, the new Haryana unit chief said a disciplinary committee would be set up soon and all leaders and workers had already been told in the meeting to air their grievances only on the party platform and not publicly. Incidentally, two of the party’s senior leaders and former ministers — Ajay Yadav and Sampat Singh — came to X to raise questions about his appointment soon after the announcement.
Mr. Narender Singh, who also hails from the Ahir community, downplayed opposition to his appointment from the Ahir-dominated Gurugram–Rewari–Mahendragarh area, such as captains Ajay Yadav and Rao Dan Singh, saying the two were contenders for the coveted post. However, after the announcement, he met with them and they agreed to cooperate. “They’re like my older brothers,” he remarked.
By appointing Mr. Narender Singh as HPCC president, the party broke away from its two-decade-old Jat-SC formula for selecting state presidents and CLP leaders. It is seen as an attempt at fresh social engineering in the state, targeting the backward classes, following in the footsteps of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which replaced Manohar Lal as chief minister with Backward Class leader Nayab Saini ahead of last year’s elections.
The move may seem surprising considering that a large section of the SC electorate has been vocal in its support for the Congress. The party won both SC Ambala and Sirsa reserved Lok Sabha constituencies in 2024.
“Our National President Mallikarjun Kharge is from Scheduled Caste. MP Sirsa Kumari Selja, General Secretary of All India Congress Committee and Uttarakhand party in-charge is also from Scheduled Caste community,” said Mr. Narender Singh.
He added, “The leaders of the caste plans have been entrusted with many duties and will be entrusted with more duties in the future.”
Regional consideration
His father, the late Bansi Singh, a three-time MLA, was first elected to the Haryana Assembly in 1972 and also served as a minister in the state cabinet.
Mr. Narender Singh said his appointment underlines the importance the Congress brass attaches to the Ahir belt.
The region has become a BJP stronghold in the last decade. “When I first became an MLA in 1996, the BJP had a small presence in the Ahirwal belt. But it managed to create a false narrative suggesting that the people of the region did not get their due during the Congress rule and misled them. Now the people have seen through the BJP’s plans and will re-align with the Congress,” he said.
“Political Conspiracy”
Mr. Narender Singh dismissed the criminal charges under Section 7 and Section 13(1)(a) as “political conspiracy”. (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act in a case filed at the State Vigilance Bureau police station in Gurugram in 2016.
“The conversation in a public place was secretly recorded and edited to damage my public image. Despite the allegations, I fought for the party symbol three times. The party high command entrusted me with the responsibility knowing the details of the case,” he said.
Published – 16 Oct 2025 01:01 IST
