Chandigarh, May 6
Political fortunes of the Haryana Chief Minister, two Central ministers, two former chief ministers and three political families are at stake as Haryana votes to elect 10 MPs to the Lok Sabha tomorrow. And with the mercury soaring, all political parties are keeping their fingers crossed about voter turn-out, each claiming that a large turn-out would work to its advantage.
With the Assembly election due next year, the general election has assumed greater importance for the Congress and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is clearly under pressure to repeat the party’s 2004 performance when Congress won nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats.The Haryana Janhit Congress, fighting its maiden Lok Sabha election, has at stake not only the future of its party but the issue of survival of the Bhajan Lal dynasty and legacy in Haryana politics.
The legacies of Haryana’s three ‘Lals’ are once again being put on test with former chief minister Bhajan Lal himself and the grandson and granddaughter respectively of two other former chief ministers Devi Lal and Bansi Lal testing their acceptability in Hisar and Bhiwani.
A victory at Hisar and Bhiwani will breathe fresh life into Haryana Janhit Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal, the two regional parties struggling to find their feet. That is one reason why both these parties have gone all out to wrest these two seats. Ironically, even a solitary win for each of the two parties will be treated as a triumph.
Both the Central ministers in the fray, Selja and Rao Inderjit Singh are believed to be having a tough time with infighting within the party affecting their campaign.
Also, within the Congress, Minister of State Kiran Chaudhary, whose daughter Shruti Chaudhary is contesting from the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat, also has high stakes. The result will decide whether the latter has indeed successfully inherited Chaudhary Bansi Lal’s legacy or not as also the fate of the detractors’ camp within the Congress.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), concerned about poor vote percentage, has put its workers “on the job”. The party has sent out reminders by way of SMSes, urging all workers to remain in the pockets assigned to them and prod the voter out of his house for polling.
The BJP, which has put up candidates for five seats, too is hoping for a better turnout. It has urged its grassroot workers to chip in to ensure a good voting percentage, especially in the urban
areas.
