Another loss of face for Haryana Congress

Chandigarh, June 22

Though the Congress didn’t fight on the symbol for 46 urban local bodies in Haryana, its supported candidates bit the dust. Reeling under the Rajya Sabha poll defeat, the urban local bodies’ results have rubbed salt into the party wounds.

The party could win president’s post In Assandh, Nissing, Naraingarh, Ratia, Sirsa, and Bawal. If Narnaul is added too, the figure comes to seven. The party has 15 MLAs in the areas where the elections took place. Out of them, it could claim victory on just two Municipal Committees.

A wrong decision

It was a wrong decision. We should have fought on the symbol. Now, we have ceded space to others. It is a warning sign for us. —Kiran Choudhry, Cong leader

It reflected the party was weak in urban areas. Besides, there were multiple candidates from the party vying for the same posts, which led to the division of votes.

The Congress was expected to perform better in its strongholds of Rohtak, Jhajjar, and Sonepat, particularly when former CM and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda has complete control of the state unit. The party high command has recently replaced his rival Kumari Selja with his confidant Udai Bhan as state party president.

The BJP won president’s post of both Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh in the areas held by Congress MLAs. In Ganaur and Kundli Municipal Committees, and Gohana Municipal Council too, the BJP won. Gohana has Congress MLA.

For the Meham Municipal Committee of the Rohtak district too, an Independent won.

But Hooda differed on the analysis of the results. He said, “The Congress didn’t fight the elections. The BJP has got only 26 percent vote whereas usually, the ruling parties sweep urban local body polls like what happened in Punjab. The results in fact show that people are upset with the BJP.”

The BJP registered victories in Ferozepur Jhirka and Punahana Municipal Committees, and in Nuh Municipal Council the JJP won. These areas have three sitting Congress MLAs. BJP has a substantial presence in cities in these three assembly constituencies, as urban areas are Hindu-dominated.

In Narnaul, Kiran Choudhry’s supported candidate Kamlesh Saini won, while in Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani her supported candidates lost. She had registered her dissent when Congress chose not to fight on the symbol. “It was a wrong decision. We should have fought on the symbol. Now, we have ceded space to others. It is a warning sign for us,” she said.

State Congress president Udai Bhan said, “We had made it clear in the beginning that the party is not contesting urban local body polls. The BJP-JJP was running alone in the race, but still couldn’t make a clean sweep. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) died before its birth. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) have been finished. The results reflect that despite being the only alternative, people didn’t repose faith in the BJP-JJP.”