With polling for Lok Sabha elections just 10 days away in Haryana, top leaders across the political spectrum including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will hit the campaign trail in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will be addressing eight election rallies in Haryana, where polling for all 10 Lok Sabha seats will be held on May 12.
The two top leaders of BJP will be addressing election rallies in areas where opposition Congress has fielded its stalwarts in Haryana.
Prime Minister Modi will address three rallies on May 8 and May 10. On May 8, Modi will be addressing public gatherings in Fatehabad and Kurukshetra while on the last day of campaigning for the sixth phase on May 10, he will be addressing a poll rally in Rohtak district.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Singh Hooda is seeking re-election for the fourth term from Rohtak and the Prime Minister has chosen the last day of campaigning of sixth phase to address a rally there, which is considered as stronghold of the Hooda family. BJP has fielded a Brahmin candidate, Arvind Sharma against Deepender Hooda n Rohtak.
Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Parkash Dhankar and Cooperation Minister Manish Grover have been appointed organiser and co-organiser for the success of Modi’s rally on May 10 in Rohtak, known as political capital of Haryana.
Fatehabad falls in the Sirsa parliamentary constituency from where the BJP has fielded bureaucrat-turned-politician Sunita Duggal to take on Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, Sirsa is represented by INLD's Charanjit Singh Rori, who is seeking re-election.
From Kurukshetra parliamentary seat, Congress has fielded former Minister Nirmal Singh against BJP's Nayab Saini, who is a Minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar cabinet.
Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala on Friday said that the party national president Amit Shah will also be addressing three poll rallies on May 5 in Sonipat, Panipat and Yamunanagar.
Two-time former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting from the Sonipat Lok Sabha seat against BJP’s outgoing MP Ramesh Kaushik, who is seeking re-election for the second term. In Sonipat, JJP-AAP has fielded Digvijay Chautala, a fourth generation member of Chautala clan.
Panipat is part of Karnal parliamentary constituency from where BJP’s candidate Sanjay Bhatia is pitted against Congress sitting MLA and former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma while Yamunanagar forms part of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat, from where senior Congress leader and former MP Kumari Selja is pitted against BJP’s outgoing MP Rattan Lal Kataria.
On May 10, Shah will again visit Haryana and address rallies in Hisar and Dadri.
Jannayak Janta Party’s leader Dushyant Chautala is seeking re-election from Hisar constituency, where the BJP has fielded Union Minister Birender Singh’s bureaucrat-turned-politician son Brijendra Singh while the Congress has fielded senior leader Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya.
Dadri falls under Bhiwani-Mahendergarh Lok Sabha constituency, where Congress former MP Shruti Choudhary, the granddaughter of former Chief Minister late Bansi Lal, is pitted against BJP’s outgoing MP Dharamvir, who is seeking mandate for the second term.
Barala added that the party has stepped up preparations for successfully holding these rallies in the state.
Apart from PM Modi and Amit Shah, BJP’s star campaigners including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, BJP vice president Uma Bharti, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, HRD Minister Smriti Irani, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also address election rallies in Haryana next week.
Notably, the saffron party, which was riding high on the Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had won seven seats out of 10 seats in Haryana.
Rahul and Priyanka to campaign on May 4 & 7
In a bid to boost party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in Haryana, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will tour the state over the next few days for election campaigning.
The Congress chief will address an election rally in Gurugram on May 4 in support of party’s candidate Capt Ajay Yadav, who is facing a tough electoral battle against BJP’s nominee and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh.
Another rally of Rahul is scheduled on May 6 in Mahendragarh, which falls under Bhiwani- Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency.
The party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will visit Ambala, Hisar and Rohtak on May 7 for campaigning.
Priyanka will hold public meetings in Ambala and Hisar to seek votes for party candidates Kumari Selja and Bhavya Bishnoi respectively on May 7. Later in the evening, she will hold a roadshow in Rohtak in support of party candidate, three-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said that the rallies by top party leaders would boost Congress’ poll campaign in Haryana.
Hooda said that the Congress is confident of winning all 10 seats in Haryana.
The former Chief Minister, who is contesting from Sonipat Lok Sabha seat said he has been touring various parts of the state and people are eagerly waiting to vote out the non-performing NDA Government at the Centre.
Hooda said that there is no Modi wave this time. The villages that I have visited, people are comparing the development that we undertook during our 10-year rule as against the hollow promises the BJP had made in 2014, he said.
The four-time former MP added that Congress’ agenda is development and not the division politics done by BJP.
The Congress, which is making all out efforts to capture 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana after its 2014 poll debacle, has this time wheeled out its tried and trusted heavyweights which include former Chief Minister, former MPs, Rajya Sabha MP, sitting MLA and a third generation politician from former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s family.
In 2014, the Congress could retain only one seat i.e. Rohtak, from where Deepender Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to hold rally in Hisar
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, who had recently held roadshows in Haryana will visit the state again on May 7 to hold an election rally in Hisar.
Kejriwal, whose AAP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with Jannayak Janta Party in Haryana, will hold the election rally in support of Dushyant Chautala, who is seeking re-election for the second term in Hisar.
JJP patron Ajay Chautala, Haryana JJP chief Nishan Singh among other senior leaders will also be present at the rally.