The two national parties—ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress — continue to face big dilemma to choose the winnable candidate for high-octane poll battle in Haryana, which goes to polling in a single phase on May 12.
Even after several rounds of meetings, stalemate continued in both BJP and the Congress regarding selection of candidates in the northern state of Haryana, which sends 10 Member Parliament to the Lok Sabha.
While the Congress has finalized names on at least six seats, the BJP is looking for strong candidates in at least eight parliamentary constituencies of the state.
The 2014 general elections saw the BJP winning seven parliamentary seats, Congress could retain only seat and INLD wrested two seats.
This time, the Congress is targeting to repeat its 2009 general elections’ performance, when it had won 9 seats whereas the BJP is eyeing to win all 10 seats in the state.
The state will witness a multi-cornered electoral battle in 2019 polls with INLD, JJP, BSP-LSP, AAP also in the fray but the contest is primarily seen as BJP Vs Congress in Lok Sabha polls.
Also, the stakes are high for both the national political parties as their performance in Lok Sabha polls in Haryana would also determine, to a large extent, their future in the State Assembly polls which are due to be held later this year.
Even as both BJP and Congress were expected to release their first list of candidates during this week, the announcement has been postponed now, leaving their lower-rung party workers in a state of uncertainty.
“Although the Congress has managed to put up a united face and boost the party workers’ morale through its statewide Parivartan Yatra, it is important to announce the candidates now so that they get enough time to campaign. After the announcement of party candidates on few seats in Punjab and Himachal and also on lone seat of Chandigarh, the party workers are eagerly waiting for the announcement of candidates of Haryana,” said a senior Congress leader.
A BJP leader, on the other hand, said, “The party workers are hoping that the central leadership does not bring an outsider to contest the election and rely on local candidates. Several internal surveys have been done to finalize the probable candidates and the state party leadership had last month submitted its list of probable candidates to the high command. The party has enough winning candidates from Haryana.”
Political observers feel that the BJP seems to be adopting a wait and watch policy to announce its candidates. Given the dominance of caste politics in the state, the BJP may wait for the rival parties to declare their candidates first and then work out caste-arithmetic to field their candidates, they say.
BJP’s incharge for Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, Kalraj Mishra on Thursday said that the party’s candidates will be announced in a week. About Congress’ candidates, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also maintained that it will be announced within a week.
Battle for Karnal and Rohtak
Two Lok Sabha constituencies including Karnal and Rohtak will witness prestigious poll battles this time.
While the BJP is looking to wrest the Congress’ bastion-Rohtak, the Congress on the other hand, is keen to win Karnal, which is Chief Minister’s Manohar Lal home turf.
With Rohtak being the only constituency where the BJP had lost in 2014 polls despite Modi wave, both the saffron party and Congress are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters of Rohtak, political capital of Jatland Haryana.
The Congress three-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda will seek mandate for the fourth time in the Jat electorate hub while the BJP, which is scouting for a winning candidate for Rohtak, may focus on strategy of polarization of votes and field a non-Jat candidate. For Rohtak seat, names of former MP Arvind Sharma, who recently switched over to the BJP, leader Shamsher Singh Kharkara, Cabinet Miniser OP Dhankar, who lost in 2014 polls, Rohtak MLA Manish Grover are under consideration.
On Karnal seat, the saffron party is looking for a heavyweight candidate to retain this strong fortress of the party. BJP Karnal MP Ashwini Chopra is out of the race for party’s ticket due to health reasons.
Three-time MP Arvind Sharma is keen to contest from Karnal but his name is also under consideration from Sonepat and Rohtak seats. The other main contenders from Karnal are Cabinet Minister Ram Bilas Sharma and party leader Sanjay Bhatia, who is stated to be close to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
The BJP may also bring an outsider for both Rohtak and Karnal seats.
In Congress, former Speaker and MLA Ganaur, Kuldeep Sharma is seen as a frontrunner even as he has sought a ticket for his son from Karnal seat.
BJP in dilemma to retain sitting MPs
The BJP, which is heading the Haryana Government, also faces a dilemma as to whether retain its current MPs or not.
The party has already made it clear that new faces will be fielded on parliamentary seats of Karnal and Kurukshetra.
While BJP MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini turned rebel and floated his own party, Karnal MP Ashwini Kumar Chopra, citing health reasons, is out of the race
Among 7 BJP MPs in the state, only Union Minister and Gururgam MP Rao Inderjeet Singh is seen by the party as its safest bet. The candidature of Faridabad MP and Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar, was also stated to be final till last week but the protests by party workers against his candidature has forced the saffron party to rethink its strategy. In current scenario, if the Congress fields four-time MP Avtar Singh Bhadana from Faridabad, the BJP candidate will face a tough electoral battle.
Apart from this, the BJP remains in a fix over retaining Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh and Sonepat MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik. The names of CM’s media advisor Rajiv Jain, IAS Brijendra Singh, son of Union Minister Birender Singh and Cabinet Minister Ram Bilas Sharma are under consideration from Sonepat seat. Ram Bilas Sharma has also thrown his hat in the ring for nomination from Karnal seat as well.
In view of paucity of heavyweight candidates, the party is considering to field Cabinet Ministers OP Dhankar, Capt. Abhimanyu, Minister of State Nayab Saini and singer Hans Raj Hans from other Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Cong in search of winning candidates
Looking for a big victory in the state in general elections to send across a message that it is on comeback trail ahead of assembly polls, the Congress will field tried and tested faces.
The names of Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja from Ambala constituency, state party chief and former MP Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, two-time former MP Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra and three-time MP Deepender Hooda from Rohtak have been finalized. While the candidature of CLP leader Kiran Choudhry have been discussed in the past but her daughter former MP Shruti Choudhary is most likely to contest from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh. ,
Former Minister Ajay Yadav from Gurugram seat and four-time MP Avtar Singh Bhadana who have returned to the Congress recently is seen as the frontrunner from Faridabad seat.
While party not announcing his name from any seat in Uttar Pradesh so far, Bhadana is likely to get party’s ticket from Faridabad seat in Haryana although a section of state party unit is opposing his candidature. Avtar Singh Bhadana, an influential Gujjar leader who has a stronghold in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh had represented the Faridabad seat in 1991, 2004 and 2009 and had in 1999 won from Meerut Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
At present, the party is in search of winning candidates on Hisar, Karnal and Sonepat seats. MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is seen as a frontrunner for Hisar Lok Sabha seat while the party is yet to take a final call on his candidature. Speculations are also rife that the party may ask former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda to contest from Jat dominated Sonepat constituency.
Only a day before, Hooda had said that he has no intention of contesting the Lok Sabha polls but if party wants, he will do so.