The Assembly elections in Haryana are likely to be held later this year.
New Delhi: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will launch his campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls with a statewide yatra beginning from 15 August, sources have said. The polls in the state are likely to be held later this year.
As per sources, the yatra would start from 15 August and the schedule for the same will be decided after a meeting to be held in the first week of August. The meeting has been called by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) working president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who would give the final seal of approval to the plans that the state leaders have charted out.
A source close to the BJP told The Sunday Guardian: “The yatra has been planned to give a wider reach to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana and would seek to increase the seats’ tally in the Assembly polls. Special focus will be given to such seats where the BJP had faced defeat in the 2014 Assembly polls. The legislators are working on assignments to make the yatra a grand success.”
According to the source, the BJP is working to strengthen its booth level management through outreach programmes on as many as 40 Assembly seats that include Pehowa, Kalayat, Kaithal, Pundri, Samalkha, Ganaur, Kharkhauda, Gohana, Julana, Safidon, Jind, Fatehabad, Ratia, Kalanwali, Dabwali, Rania, Sirsa and Ellenabad, beside others.
These are the seats on which the BJP had faced a defeat in 2014 Assembly elections.
Haryana had been a Congress bastion ever since Bhupinder Singh Hooda became the Chief Minister of the state in 2005. However, the Congress was not able to cope with the “Modi wave” which first swept the nation and later helped the BJP capture the state’s Assembly with a majority in 2014. The Congress lost the 2014 polls after two consecutive terms and the INLD emerged as the main opposition party in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. BJP managed to get little less than 50 lakh votes and bagged 47 seats in a 90-member Haryana Assembly.
In the 2009 Assembly polls, the Congress became the single largest party with 40 seats in the state and formed the government with the help of seven Independents. The INLD won 31 seats, whereas the BJP was a marginal player with only four seats. Even the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), which contested the elections for the first time, won six seats.
Since he has come to power, Manohar Lal Khattar has made the BJP stronger in the Jat-dominated state. He has been most successful in crafting a new social vote base in the state.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP managed to defeat the regional parties of Haryana, along with the Congress in 84 Assembly constituency segments.
BJP spokesperson Raman Malik told The Sunday Guardian: “The BJP’s performance in the upcoming Assembly polls will improve and we are going to win more seats this time than we did in 2014. If you see the results of Lok Sabha polls held in 2014 and now in 2019, the BJP has taken a high jump in the seats’ tally and in terms of vote share. This year, the BJP outperformed all the parties in the state and won 10 out of 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana. Opposition parties in Haryana are in no position to compete with the massive popularity of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
Malik, who is associated with the party for a long time and is a popular face in the state, is also gearing up to contest the Assembly polls.
On whether he is seeking a ticket for the Assembly polls, Malik said: “I am an obedient party worker and will perform any role that is decided by my party leaders and senior colleagues. I am blessed that people of Gurugram and Haryana give me so much love and support. Their support is the reason I have been working for them even when I am not holding any constitutional post.”