Setting eyes on party’s ‘Mission 2019’, BJP national president Amit Shah will visit Haryana on January 9 to review the poll preparedness in the state.
Amit Shah’s one-day visit is scheduled in Hisar on January 9, during which he will hold meetings with Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers and party leaders from Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa. District party presidents and party office bearers in Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa Lok Sabha constituencies have been asked to attend Hisar’s meeting.
Notably, the BJP, which was riding high on the Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had lost in these three districts.
In 2014 general elections, the BJP had contested eight seats out of 10 and left Hisar and Sirsa to its alliance partner at that time, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) of former CM Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi.
While the HJC lost both seats to the INLD, the BJP won seven seats, losing the Rohtak seat to Deepender Hooda of the Congress. Two seats of Hissar and Sirsa were won by INLD’s Dushyant Chautala and Charanjit Singh respectively.
“During his one day visit in Haryana, Amit Shah is scheduled to attend a slew of meetings with ministers, party leaders to discuss strategies to capture the three Lok Sabha seats, which the party had lost in 2014 general elections in the state,” said a senior party leader.
“Shah will address the district presidents, incharges and party office bearers of the three districts including Sirsa, Hisar and Rohtak. Besides, the booth prabhari of Hisar district will also attend the meeting,” he said.
Rohtak, which was the epicentre of the 2016 violent Jat agitation, is considered a stronghold of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. During Lok Sabha polls 2014, Congress had managed to retain its Rohtak seat, with Deepender Singh Hooda being the only Congress candidate recording victory during the polls.
On the other hand, Sirsa and Hisar are considered stronghold of Indian National Lok Dal, main opposition party in Haryana.
Amit Shah’s visit to Haryana comes at a time when the BJP has been pushed on the defensive over allegations of “biased behaviour” by four party MLAs against Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Four MLAs from south Haryana, including Cabinet Minister Banwari Lal had last month aired their grievances publicly and levelled allegations against the Chief Minister.
The visit would also be crucial as high-stake bypoll for the Jind Assembly segment is scheduled on January 28. The bypolls would be a prestige issue for the ruling BJP, which registered victory with a huge margin for the seats of mayor in five municipal corporations recently in Haryana.
Earlier, the BJP chief Amit Shah had in February last year addressed “Yuva Hunkar rally” in centrally located Jind in Jatland-Haryana. Shah had in 2016 spent three days in Rohtak with an aim to further strengthen party’s base ahead of polls.
In 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls, Haryana will be witnessing a rectangular political battle with BJP, Congress and INLD already kicking off election campaigns and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) entering the fray in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s home state. The breakaway faction of the INLD known as Jannayak Janta Party led by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala is likely to form an alliance with the AAP.
While the Lok Sabha polls are due to be held in April-May 2019, the assembly polls in Haryana are due to be held in October 2019.