The lukewarm response of the State BJP leadership towards the Vijay Rath Yatra of its ally, Haryana Janhit Congress President Kuldeep Bishnoi has raised question marks on the alliance of the two parties ahead of the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
After Ambala, the Rath Yatra at Panchkula on Thursday hardly saw participation of the BJP leaders and workers, indicating that all was not well with the alliance. When Bishnoi's Vijay Rath Yatra arrived on Thursday morning, not even a single senior BJP leader from the State executive, except former MP Rattan lal Kataria, was present.
Sources said that though State BJP President Ram Bilas Sharma was in Panchkula on Thursday at his daughter's residence in Mansa Devi Complex when Bishnoi was addressing the gathering at Pinjore in Panchkula district, he stayed away from the function.
Earlier, BJP MlA Anil Vij had decided to stay away from Bishnoi's Rath Yatra on October 30 in Ambala. Asked about his absence from HJC's public meeting, Vij said he didn't get a "formal invitation" for the function. "I preferred to attend an important meeting at Chandigarh on Wednesday," the Ambala MlA of BJP said.
Though senior leaders of BJP, including Sushma Swaraj and BJP president Rajnath Singh have already announced that the party would go ahead with the alliance with HJC, the state leaders of BJP have practically given a thumbs down to the prospects of Bishnoi getting enough seats in the State.
Ironically, if the absence of BJP leaders and workers were not enough, Bishnoi couldn't even get enough crowd to listen to him in Panchkula district. Panchkula was once the stronghold of his family and the constituency of his brother Chander Mohan.
In his speech, Bishnoi announced that if he becomes the chief minister of Haryana, he would send all corrupt leaders to jail.