The faction-ridden Haryana BJP seems to be caught unaware when the Election Commission of India announced on August 16 that a single-phase polling for the 90-member Assembly would be held on October 1.
On the same day, hours before this announcement, Haryana chief minister Nabi Singh Saini announced the transfer of Rs 525 crore to farmers as a bonus for losses due to deficient rainfall.
Five years on, with the life of the present Assembly expected to end on 5 November, Saini wasn’t the only one taken by surprise. The announcement was clearly not expected, as borne out by a hurriedly prepared list of officers to be transferred before the model code of conduct kicked in.
A cabinet meeting scheduled for 17 August to announce more sops to voters was put off. Having failed to notify the decision to make all contractual employees permanent, BJP leaders were chagrined at another opportunity lost. With the left hand oblivious of what the right hand was doing, it was indicative of a 10-year-old BJP government adrift.
Though BJP is in power for the last 10 years and succeeded in winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats in both 2014 and 2019 elections, its dismal performance in 2019 polls confining to 5 Lok Sabha seats reflecting losing of its grip on the state. Realising that as Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar failed to contribute for the strengthening of the party’s hold with his governance, though it replaced him a few months ago, failed to gain.
On the other hand, Lok Sabha leaders gave a new energy to Congress cadre and raring to return to power after 10 years, it seems to be better prepared for the polls. Congress leaders seem to have hit the ground running after the Lok Sabha results were declared on 4 June.
The party has been swamped by ticket aspirants and will have to rush to finalise candidates in the next two weeks. The likes of Deepender Hooda and Kumari Selja, among the party’s frontline leaders in the state, are on the move, leading yatras, addressing rallies, drawing large crowds and exuding confidence that the party is set to win the election.
State Congress president Uday Bhan points out that the party has been on the ground all along with its ‘Jan Milan Samaroh’, ‘Haath Se Haath Jodo Abhiyan’, ‘Vipaksh Aap ke Samaksh’ even before Deepender Hooda kicked off the ‘Haryana Maange Hisab Yatra’ and Kumari Selja embarked on the ‘Sandesh Yatra’. Bhupinder Singh Hooda also launched the ‘Ghar Ghar Congress, Har Ghar Congress’ campaign on 15 January 2024.
