Mayoral poll win in Rohtak proved to be a stepping stone

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, May 24

The state’s hottest Rohtak seat was on the radar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ever since it emerged victorious in the mayoral elections held in December 2018. BJP nominee Manmohan Goyal had defeated former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda-backed candidate Sita Ram Sachdeva by a margin of 14,776 votes in that elections.

“The win in the mayoral poll inculcated a sense of confidence in the BJP leadership that three-time MP Deepender Hooda could also be defeated in the coming Lok Sabha elections as voters, especially non-Jats, were tilting heavily towards the BJP after the arson and violence during the quota stir in February 2016. So, the BJP started chalking out strategies to break into the Hooda citadel and pitted a non-Jat face, Arvind Sharma, against Deepender to take advantage of the prevailing situation,” said Mukesh Bagri, a political observer.

Bagri said Minister of State for Cooperatives and Rohtak MLA Manish Grover, who played an instrumental role in the BJP’s victory in the Rohtak mayoral polls, had claimed that the party would unseat Deepender in the Lok Sabha poll for sure after winning the mayoral poll.

After the declaration of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP pulled out all stops to wrest the Rohtak seat from the Congress. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar addressed a number of poll meetings at various villages of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency besides organising rallies and roadshows in every Assembly segment. He also interacted with Rohtak residents, including businessmen, social activists and spiritual gurus, during a series of ‘chai par charcha’ gatherings.