Parties Take ‘Poll Positions’ In Haryana

The key political forces in Haryana have started taking ‘poll positions’ with the state Assembly elections barely three months away. There is a lot of churning taking place in Haryana’s political hot pot.

This is a state that has always offered a different blend of politics than the rest. It is the state that has the reputation of introducing the politics of ‘aaya Ram, gaya Ram,’ a term used to define political ‘horse trading’.

Haryana was once dominated by the three Lals:Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal and Bansi Lal. However, their descendents are now straying away from their political core even as they struggle to be at the helm of party affairs.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ascent to political power in 2014, and its victory in the two consecutive terms has changed the political dynamics here.

As far as the ongoing churn in state politics, and the poll positions, is concerned, certain things are now clear. To begin with, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will lead the charge for the BJP in the forthcoming poll battle.

For the Congress the poll chariot is being driven by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Meanwhile, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) that was one of the two main political powerhouses along with the Congress, has cobbled up a ‘third front’ in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) that came into existence before the Lok Sabha poll of 2019 from within the INLD, is also fighting to retain its fledgling foothold in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has been eyeing a place in Haryana will contest the forthcoming polls on its own. The AAP has announced that it will contest all 90 seats.

As reported earlier by The Citizen, caste equations are expected to play the most important role in the poll outcome. The Other Backward Castes (OBC) accounting for almost 35% of the electorate, the Jats accounting for one fourth of the total voters and the Scheduled Castes (SC) accounting for almost 21% are the major chunks in the caste matrix.

The INLD with a Jat support base in its pockets announced its alliance with the BSP last week where the arrangement worked out is that the former will contest 53 of the total 90 seats while the latter will contest on the remaining 37 seats.

The announcement was made in Chandigarh by INLD's principal general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala along with BSP's Anand Kumar and national convener Akash Anand.

Abhay said, “This alliance is not an alliance of selfishness but both the parties have a common thought that the poor should get their rights. Today the sentiment of the people is that the BJP should be removed from power and the Congress should be kept away from power.

“Apart from INLD and BSP, we will also include other parties that are against the BJP and the Congress. Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala and sister Mayawati have fulfilled all the promises made to the people till date. Even now, all the promises will be fulfilled if the government is formed.”

Akash Anand said the alliance was approved by BSP supremo Mayawati in a meeting with Abhay Chautala in Delhi on July 6. Announcing Abhay Chautala as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, he said that late Kanshiram's dream will be fulfilled alongside providing due reservation rights.

Reading out the joint manifesto, Abhay Chautala said that on formation, “the INLD-BSP government will immediately fill the pending backlog of SCs and STs in government jobs while bringing back the quota abolished by the Congress and the BJP.

“Houses would be built for the SC/ST category on 100-yard plots under Tau Devi Lal Awas Yojana and children will be given free coaching for competitive exams. SC and BC children, whether studying in a government or private college, would be given free college education and the bonds being filled by general category children for admission to MBBS would be abolished.”

Assuring women safety, Abhay also announced the “commitment of the alliance to abolish the Agniveer scheme and get a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for entire agricultural produce as is being sought by the farmers.”

He claimed that “the INLD alliance with the BSP for the first time had resulted in victory of five Lok Sabha seats. On the second occasion some selfish elements had departed from the alliance resulting in losses.

“Now, keeping in mind the sentiments of the people, we have formed an alliance again and will fight the upcoming elections together even after the assembly elections. If any new party joins us in future, we will give them seats from the INLD's share.”

The INLD has been persistently playing up the issue of water rights of Haryana. On being questioned about the water crisis in Delhi, he said that Haryana has never been negligent in providing water to Delhi.

“We do not want anyone in Delhi to remain thirsty. The AAP is in power in Delhi and Punjab and Delhi's water supply should be stopped to get Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water from Punjab so that they experience scarcity of water.

“Delhi is short of drinking water but in Haryana, lakhs of acres of agricultural land has become barren without SYL water,” he said.

Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati took to the social media stating, “I have full hope that this mutual unity will form the INLD-BSP coalition government by defeating the opponents with the blessings of the people.”

Meanwhile, the BJP is going all out to woo the OBCs while hoping for the Jat and the SC vote to split among the other players. The party’s central leadership had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the chief minister in March this year hoping to offset the anti incumbency.

Saini comes from the OBC section. Having lost five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats last month, the party has still put its bet on Saini even as it faces an uphill task of retaining power for the third consecutive term.

The party was able to come to power for the second time in 2019 by successfully working out the caste equation where the isolation of Jats following the 2016 reservation stir was a major factor.

But of late the Jats have been largely rallying behind the Congress and a considerable chunk of the SC voters has also shifted towards the grand old party which is a cause of worry for the BJP.

The party appointed Mohan Lal Badoli as the state unit chief last week. He comes from the Brahmin community.

The central leadership of the BJP has started making forays into the state in the desperate attempt that follows a drubbing received by the party in the recently concluded by-polls in various states. The saffron party could win only two of the 13 seats.

The BJP on Tuesday held a ‘Backward Classes Samman Sammelan’ in Mahendragarh where Union Home Minister Amit Shah was the chief guest. He later tweeted, “The Congress governments gave nothing to Haryana except casteism, corruption and anarchy, whereas the BJP government has ended corruption in Haryana and established good governance.

“Today, at the BC Samman Sammelan in Haryana, I called upon the hard-working workers of BJP to take the account of BJP's achievements to the people and form the BJP government in Haryana for the third consecutive time.”

Shah went on to say, “Today I am feeling very energised after interacting with the sisters and brothers of the backward classes in Haryana. Under the leadership of Modi Ji, the Central and Haryana governments have been dedicated to the respect, security and empowerment of the backward classes for the past decade.

“The Haryana Government has not only empowered the backward community with its far-reaching plans, but today, by increasing the limit of creamy layer and making provision for reservation in Panchayats and Municipal Corporations; it has given new impetus to their morale.”

He reportedly raised the bogey of the Congress snatching reservation from the backward castes and extending it to Muslims. He said the Congress would repeat what it has done in Karnataka.

The BJP had issued full page advertisements in the newspapers announcing the Sammelan and listing out various schemes that it has started for the backward class. These included Mukhya Mantri Vivah Shagun Yojana, Dr BR Ambedkar Awas Navinikaran Yojana and Dr BR Ambedkar Medhavi Chattar Sanshodit Yojana among others.

During his tour of Sonepat on Sunday, Saini had claimed that in the last decade the ‘double engine’ government in the state has made a beginning of taking the welfare schemes to the common man because of which to a large extent the last man has benefited from the welfare schemes.

Saini said that one can see a smile on the face of the poorest of the poor because of these schemes. He said that before 2014 the governments only made announcements that were never implemented.

“The governments only sold dreams that never saw the light of the day. Previously the people used to demonstrate for power supply. Today our government has improved the system to provide 24 hour electricity supply to the people,” Saini said.

Unveiling a statue of Maharana Pratap at Rai, he said that 509 schools in the state have been named after martyrs.

Buoyed by the resurgence achieved by winning five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats last month the Congress under Hooda has also upped the ante launching a ‘Haryana Mange Hisab’ campaign.

The party has released a ‘charge sheet’ of 15 questions against the BJP government of the state which it is taking amid the people of the state.

Releasing this charge sheet in Chandigarh on July 11, Hooda said that all the programmes that Congress has carried out so far, including Bharat Jodo Yatra, Opposition Aapke Saamne, Ghar Ghar Congress, Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Milan Samaroh and Dhanyani Karyakarta Sammelan, have received tremendous support from the public.

Talking about the 'Haryana Mange Hisab' campaign, he said that through this, not only the failures of the BJP and the announcements of Congress are to be conveyed to the public, but suggestions are also to be collected from the people for the party's manifesto.

Party’s state unit chief Chaudhary Udaybhan said that the charge sheet has backed the questions asked to the BJP in the charge sheet with facts.

Some of the questions posed are: “Why Haryana has the highest unemployment in the country? Why did the BJP central government call Haryana the most unsafe state of the country?

How did the scourge of intoxication and drugs reach every home?

“Why does Haryana have the country's highest inflation? Why have government portals and IDs become a headache for the public? Why have there been more than 50 big scams worth thousands of crores in 10 years of the BJP rule?

“Why has the BJP era been the worst for the farmers? Why did the BJP neglect Dalits and backward classes? Why did the BJP end permanent jobs through Agneepath and Kaushal Nigam? Why did the BJP rain lathis and bullets on every section of the society?”

Senior party leader Choudhary Birender Singh said that BJP could not understand Haryana politically and socially at all. “It has always done politics of fanaticism and casteism. That is why this government has failed on every front.

“The BJP, which has done all kinds of corruption in 10 years and has also done political corruption by forming an alliance with the JJP,” he said.

Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda who recently won the Lok Sabha poll on Rohtak seat said that in the recent parliamentary elections, Congress' votes increased by 20 percent and the party’s votes increased in all the 90 Assembly constituencies.

On the other hand, the BJP's votes decreased in every Lok Sabha and assembly constituency. Deepender said that these results have given a clear message that the people of Haryana want change in the state and Congress is going to form the government.

Kumari Selja who is the newly elected Sirsa Lok Sabha member has also been constantly attacking the BJP regime in the state on various fronts. Speaking on the two hour strike by the doctors on Monday, Selja said that people from every section are troubled by the BJP government in the state.

“When they are not heard, they resort to protests and strikes. The same has happened with the Haryana Civil Medical Service Association's demands being ignored.

“Health services in state civil hospitals are in a deteriorated state; the public has been waiting for specialist doctors for years. Hundreds of patients are referred every month, and there is not even a basic facility like an ultrasound.

“The condition of patients is worsening day by day. The BJP government is playing with people's lives; this situation is extremely shameful and condemnable. The BJP government has only deceived the public in the name of health services,” Selja said.

She said that whenever Congress made a promise, it fulfilled it, and when the Congress government comes to power, health services will be further strengthened, and the interests of doctors will be fully taken care of.

The JJP on the other hand is fighting a battle to remain relevant in state politics. This party too has a core base of Jat supporters. The people, particularly the Jats, are annoyed with the party leadership for having sought votes in the 2019 polls on an anti BJP plank and then going on to form the government with the saffron party.

This arrangement ended in March this year when the BJP dumped the JJP under Dushyant Chautala who had been the deputy chief minister all this while.

The peasantry in particular is angry with Dushyant for not standing by it during the farmers’ movement against the three controversial farm laws that were eventually repealed by the Narendra Modi led central government.

He also faces flak for not raising his voice in favour of women wrestlers agitating against the BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual exploitation.

“The JJP could have emerged as a good political alternative this time if it had not joined hands with the BJP. It will now have to wait for another day,” pointed out a senior political observer from the state.

Ever since the BJP-JJP alliance came apart, Dushyant Chautala has been having a tough time keeping his flock together. The party came up with a poor show during the recent Lok Sabha polls where all the candidates lost their deposits.

Nevertheless, Dushyant is trying to keep the party afloat by organising conferences and conventions across the state under party president Ajay Chautala. He has also been taking positions on issues like the Agniveer scheme.

In a recent tweet he said, “A quota of Agniveers should be fixed in the state police and paramilitary forces. The government should also bear the expenses of higher education of Agniveers so that their future can be made more secure...”

He has also been taking on the Saini government on the issue of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government announced a 10% job reservation and easy loans for ex-Agniveers, besides an age relaxation in various job categories.