New Delhi:
The Congress party on Monday announced the appointment of Rao Narender Singh as the new President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). This move also saw Bhupinder Singh Hooda being named the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the state.
Change in leadership structure
With these appointments, the Congress has broken a longstanding 20-year tradition in Haryana politics. For two decades, the Congress had maintained a dual leadership structure, with a Jat leader typically heading the CLP and a Dalit leader at the helm of the PCC. Many Congress MLAs had expressed their support for Hooda, urging the party leadership to formally recognize him as the CLP leader.
However, this arrangement has now been altered, signaling a shift in the party’s approach to leadership in the state.
Who is Rao Narender Singh?
Rao Narender Singh, 61, from Narnaul in Mahendragarh, takes over the reins of the Haryana Congress from Udai Bhan, who had been appointed as PCC president in April 2022. Singh, a former Haryana Health Minister, brings over two decades of political experience to his new role. He previously served as a Congress MLA before briefly joining the Haryana Janhit Congress in 2009, later returning to Congress to serve as Health Minister in Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government.
