Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar may not be in the fray but his popularity and performance will be put to test as the state goes to polling on 10 Lok Sabha seats on May 12.
Although the state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest but the real battle for ballots would be mostly confined to the ruling BJP led by Manohar Lal and Congress, where former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is spearheading the campaign.
The Lok Sabha poll outcome on May 23 in Haryana, where Khattar is heading the maiden BJP Government, would eventually indicate the sentiments among the voters of the state, which is also scheduled to go to Assembly polls later this year. There is a realization among all political parties that the result of parliamentary elections will set the tone for Haryana Assembly polls.
After making his political debut about four-and -a-half-years ago in assembly elections from Karnal, Khattar is now shouldering the responsibility of leading the party’s charge in Haryana.
To boost the party’ poll prospects, the star campaigner of saffron party, Manohar Lal is engaged in a hectic campaigning, addressing atleast two election rallies every day, besides holding a roadshow and meeting party workers and people of the state on daily basis. Not only Haryana, the former RSS Pracharak Manohar Lal is also holding poll rallies in neighboring Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, union territory of Chandigarh and other states.
On his birthday a day before on May 5, the Chief Minister held two election rallies and meetings with party workers while on Monday, after addressing two rallies, he went to Delhi for canvassing.
Interestingly, the first-time MLA, Manohar Lal is the most followed Haryana politician on Twitter with 1.46 million followers and has also been actively connecting with the voters through this micro-blogging site in the election season.
Notably, the saffron party, while riding the Narendra Modi wave in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had emerged as a major gainer in Haryana where it had managed to win 7 seats and later that year, created a history by attaining absolute majority on its own in the State Assembly polls. The Congress could win only one seat while the undivided Indian National Lok Dal had won two seats in last general elections.
Political observers say, “Like, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who faces a must-win situation in Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency to prove his popularity among the Jats, it would an acid test for Manohar Lal’s popularity as well among the non-Jat vote bank in Haryana.”
They feel that any gain in BJP’s tally in Haryana in 2019 polls would strengthen Manohar al’s standing in the party at national level while any loss would put him under attack by his rivals within and outside the party.
While the political observers feel that the 2019 election may not be a repeat of 2014 where Modi wave had decimated the Congress in Haryana, Manohar Lal exudes confidence of winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
At his election rallies and roadshows, he is focusing on listing out BJP government’s achievements at the Central and State level besides sticking to the issue of national security and nationalism.
“The BJP government has eliminated the culture of middlemen and agents by bringing in transparency in the working of the government and its departments,” he told people at an election rally in Rohtak on Monday.
“The ongoing Lok Sabha elections are different from the past elections as it is a contest between the BJP which has ensured all round development in last five years besides ensuring nation’s security and the opposition Congress which misled the people through its promises including the Garibi Hatao slogan in the last several decades,” Manohar Lal added.
A non-Jat and Punjabi Chief Minister, who is under attack by opposition over his government’s failure during violent Jat quota stir 2016, dera followers’ violence at Panchkula in 2017, violence during Baba Rampal’s arrest is also hitting back at the opposition on the issues of corruption, dynasty politics and national security during canvassing.
He has also faced sharp criticism from his own partymen over issues including slow pace of implementation of CM’s announcements and bias attitude towards some constituencies in Haryana.
Even as Manohar Lal has managed to put his house in order and sharing dais during election campaigning with the likes of Rao Inderjit Singh, Birender Singh, known as his detractors, a poor show in Lok Sabha may again see dissenting voices rising against him in the state.
“Manohar Lal has been termed as an inexperienced administrator after his failure to handle the situation during Jat quota stir and dera followers’ violence at Panchkula. However, he also has to his credit the BJP’s maiden victory in Jind bypoll and party’s win in direct mayoral polls in five major cities of Haryana besides success of major schemes like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in Haryana,” political experts say.
Apart from his hometurf -Karnal, where Manohar Lal had managed to get party ticket for his confidant Sanjay Bhatia, the Chief Minister faces a challenging task to ensure BJP’s victory on three more seats including Rohtak, Sonipat and Hisar, which are witnessing high-stakes poll battle.
While former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is candidate from Sonipat, his son Deependra Hooda is contesting from Rohtak and two dynasts from Chautala and Bhajan Lal families are in the fray from Hisar seat against the BJP nominee.
Before the poll schedule was announced, the Chief Minister strove hard to get a number of development programmes and projects launched in the state. To woo the voters, he had also announced a new scheme to provide financial and social security cover to small farmers and workers in unorganized sector and rebate to artisans in power bill in the state.