With the frequent visits of AICC general secretary in-charge of Haryana Shakeel Ahmed and announcement of a mammoth rally at Gohana in Sonipat district on November 10, the Haryana Congress is preparing itself for the lok Sabha elections 2014.
The party won nine out of the ten seats in the State in the last lok Sabha elections. But since then a lot has happened in Haryana politics and the party would find it difficult to retain the 2009 tally.
After taking over from BK Hariprasad, Ahmed has realised that groupism is the bane of the Haryana Congress, took time to understand the ground realities and then started attending the rallies of Hooda loyalists as well as his rivals in the State unit.
On September 25, Ahmed addressed a meeting of party workers at Nuh in Mewat district. The meeting was organised by Aftab Ahmed, a Hooda loyalist. He had also attended a rally of Birender Singh at Jind to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Birender Singh is a long standing rival of Hooda in State politics.
During a seminar on 'Food and Security Bill' in Chandigarh recently, Ahmed did the balancing act between the Hooda camp and his opponents by giving importance to both the sections. His underlying message is unity in the State unit against the backdrop of Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh's decision not to contest the next elections on a Congress ticket.
To curb dissidence, Ahmed also announced that Phool Chand Mullana will continue to be the State Congress president. This has been done to ensure opponents of Hooda fall in line.
For Hooda and his supporters, the November 10 Gohana rally has become a prestige issue. Hooda has already said that it will be a big rally. Sources said the Chief Minister is planning to invite senior Congress leaders from Delhi to address this rally to make sure that his clout in the State remains unchallenged.
The State Congress has decided to highlight popular schemes like Food Security Bill.
Opposition parties, including the BJP, have already upped the ante with their rallies and political functions. BJP organised a big rally at Rewari on September 23, which was addressed by Gujarat CM and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Indian National lok Dal (INlD) had held a similar rally at Narnaul and announced their political campaign in the state.
Even Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) party, an ally of BJP has also started its month long 'Rath Yatra' from Adampur on October 6 for the lok Sabha Elections under the leadership of party chief Kuldeep Bishnoi.