BJP faces multiple hurdles as it looks to retain power in Haryana

Chandigarh, September 21

The ruling BJP, which was propelled to power in Haryana by a dramatic surge in its vote share five years ago, faces multiple hurdles this time in its “Mission 75-plus” as it aims to retain power in the state.

With Haryana going to polls on October 21, over the next few days parties will face an uphill task to pick their best for the 90 seats.

While the main contest is seen between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, other players in the poll ring include the Indian National Lok Dal, Jannayak Janata Party — formed after a vertical split in the INLD, BSP, AAP and Swaraj India party.

Unemployment, youth, farmers, employees, water issues and alleged non-fulfilment of poll promises of the BJP are going to be some of the issues likely to be raised by the opposition.

For the ruling party, transparency in governance, zero tolerance for corruption, giving jobs on merit, implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Haryana and achievements of state and central governments are going to be the poll issues. Scrapping of Article 370 is also likely to be raised by BJP in the run-up to the election.

The BJP is upbeat after its stupendous show in the 2019 General Election, winning all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The polls have come at a time when Opposition parties in Haryana are in a disarray.        

The INLD, formed by former deputy prime minister the late Devi Lal, has suffered a series of setbacks during the past one year after its split because of a feud in the Chautala family.

Most of INLD’s sitting MLAs and prominent leaders have switched over to the BJP ahead of polls. Abhay Singh Chautala is among only a handful of prominent leaders left in the party.

Factionalism had marred the Haryana Congress, too, though with recent changes made in the state unit by the high command, the party leaders claim that is a thing of past and everyone is united to take on the BJP.

In a bid to end factionalism, the Congress has named Kumari Selja chief of its state unit and appointed former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda the Congress Legislature Party leader, and Kiran Choudhary head of its election manifesto committee.

The AAP, the JJP and the BSP are fighting the polls independently. JJP’s alliance with the BSP collapsed earlier this month.

For the BJP, Chief Minister M L Khattar claims his party will comfortably cross 75 seats.

Asked with whom he sees his party’s contest, Khattar said, “The entire Opposition is in a disarray, but on some individual seats there will be contest.”

“In Garhi Sampla Kiloi (a seat held by B S Hooda), the fight will be against the Congress. In Ellenabad (Abhay Chautala’s seat), it will be against the INLD, and likewise on some seats against the JJP or Independents,” he said.

He said the BJP is “strong on all 90 seats” and will finalise its candidates before the nomination process begins.

However, finalising candidates may be an uphill task for the BJP as it faces a problem of plenty with several leaders from the opposition camp joining the saffron outfit.

“Prospective candidates may be many, but in the end only 90 are going to get tickets,” Khattar said.

In the October 2014 Assembly polls, the BJP was propelled to power in Haryana for the first time on its own after it recorded a dramatic surge in vote share that saw its tally zooming from four in 2009 to 47 in 2014 in the backdrop of a strong Modi wave.

Later, it won one more seat in the bypoll to the Jind Assembly seat.

BJP’s vote share had rocketed to 33.2 per cent from a meager 9.05 per cent in 2009 Assembly polls. It had been playing the second fiddle to regional parties, including INLD, in Haryana until then.

In the outgoing Assembly, the INLD has 19 legislators, but two of its MLAs died and several switched over to the BJP.

The Congress has a strength of 17, the BSP one, Independents five and the SAD has one member. PTI