Buoyed by its resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has already gone into the campaign mode for another poll battle while its main rivals in Haryana —Congress and Indian National Lok Dal—are still struggling to put their respective house in order after their crushing defeat recently.
While the parliamentary polls 2019 had concluded in May with the BJP winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, the election to the 90-member State Assembly is now due to be held in October.
Just like the Lok Sabha polls when the opposition appeared “unprepared” to take on the BJP, the political scenario for the upcoming State Assembly elections remains almost similar in Haryana with the saffron party going full throttle in its election campaign while its rival parties are yet to revive from the recent poll debacle and begin preparations for the state elections.
Factionalism and infighting, which had contributed to the electoral reverses for the Congress in Haryana, still continues to haunt the state party unit while decimation of INLD continues with exodus of its senior party leaders to the rivals’ camps ahead of assembly polls.
The opposition parties’ troubling times have also given hope to the BJP to comfortably achieve its “Mission 75” in the Haryana Assembly polls.
In an election mode, the BJP is set to launch its ‘Jan Aashirvad Yatra’ on August 18 to reach out to the people in 90 assembly constituencies of the state.
During the statewide “Jan Aashirvad Yatra’, the Chief Minister Manohar Lal will address and interact with the people of all 90 assembly seats in Haryana. The Chief Minister will cover six assembly constituencies in a day during this yatra aimed at highlighting the achievements of BJP led Central and State Government,
Beginning on August 18 from Kalka, the yatra will conclude on September 8. A ‘Vijay Sankalp Rally’ will be organized on the concluding day of the yatra and is proposed to be addressed either by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as per the plan chalked out by the BJP. The Panna Pramukhs in Haryana are also likely to be honoured on the occasion.
“The BJP has geared up for the upcoming elections and currently, holding meetings at all 290 mandals to further strengthen its organizational structure in all 90 assembly constituencies. These meetings will continue till July 15. After this, the party Vistaraks will review the membership drive and organizational structure from July 20 -28 in Haryana,” said Subhash Barala while talking to the mediapersons on Wednesday.
He said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah will honor around three lakh panna pramukhs in the state.
“In August, the BJP will start its ‘Jan Aashirvad Yatra’ to connect with the people of the state,” he added.
On BJP’s “Mission 75” for State Assembly polls, Barala said that the party is confident of winning atleast 75 seats in the upcoming polls. While the Congress is divided and does not even have an organizational structure in the state, the INLD is fading into oblivion. The BJP, on the other hand, has strong organizational set up and lakhs of Panna Pramukhs. The BJP led State Government has also undertaken all round development in Haryana in the last over four years, he added.
The crucial assembly polls are less than 100 days away but the Congress and INLD are yet to begin process to chalk out their poll strategy.
While the former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda was expected to begin his statewide rath yatra next month, nothing has been finalized yet due to the leadership upheaval in the party. With no indication of change in state leadership, the factionalism and infighting is raging in the Congress state unit after party’s crushing defeat in Lok Sabha polls.
In the faction-ridden Haryana Congress unit, state party chief Ashok Tanwar, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress in-charge of communications Randeep Singh Surjewala, MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi among others are heading separate factions and also eyeing the Chief Ministerial post in the State Assembly polls.
On the other hand, the INLD, which was once the main opposition party in Haryana, is facing its worst nightmare ahead of assembly elections with five of its MLAs and lone Rajya Sabha MP joining the BJP. Another MLA had joined the Congress while four others had joined INLD’s splinter group-Jannayak Janta Party.
With the INLD chief OP Chautala in prison, his son and party’s secretary general Abhay Chautala has so far failed to keep his flock together.
Meanwhile, the INLD’s splinter group—Jannayak Janta Party—led by former MP Dushyant Chautala has begun poll preparations. Dushyant alongwith other senior party leaders is currently busy holding meetings in all assembly constituencies and strengthening the party’s organizational structure at grassroot level in the state. The party has announced “Mission 46” for the assembly elections.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP currently has 48 MLAs, Congress has 17 while the INLD’s strengthen has come down to 7 MLAs with continuous exodus of its party MLAs.
Notably, the saffron party had won all 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana and maintained its lead in as many as 79 assembly constituencies during the Lok Sabha polls.
