After the Congress romped home with nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana in the last Lok Sabha polls, it was widely expected that chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would like to make hay while the electoral sun shines and advance the Assembly elections due in March next year. Speculation has now given way to virtual confirmation, with the Hooda government swinging into poll mode.
At public and party meetings, Hooda has been asking the people to gear up for elections. His latest slew of sops announced for different sections of society, including farmers, traders, students and women, has left no one in doubt that the declaration of early elections is now a mere formality.
Besides pandering to specific sections of voters like the Sikhs ? Hooda has announced a date for the formation of a separate Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for the state after Assembly elections are over ? Hooda has struck a body blow to the already decimated opposition parties. His prize catch is former finance minister Sampat Singh, considered to be one of the seniormost and respected Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders, next only to its supremo, Om Parkash Chautala. Sampat, seen as the sober face of a party otherwise known for its aggressive stance, lost the Lok Sabha elections by a narrow margin and blamed some INLD leaders for his defeat.
Hooda has also roped in other senior leaders of the INLD and Kuldeep Bishnoi?s Haryana Janhit Party (HJP). But the influx of leaders from other parties could prove to be a double-edged sword ? it could lead to dissent within the Congress, particularly among those who will be denied the party ticket in favour of the newcomers.
But there is no denying that Opposition parties in Haryana are in disarray. After losing Sampat Singh and some other senior leaders, the INLD is now a triumvirate with Chautala heading the party and his two sons controlling it. The party had drawn a blank with its alliance partner, the BJP, in the parliamentary elections. Serious differences exist among BJP and INLD cadres on the ground.
In fact, the other alliance, formed between the HJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) may prove to be a tougher rival for the Congress. The HJP registered its lone victory in the Lok Sabha elections with Bishnoi?s father and former chief minister Bhajan Lal scraping through from the Hisar constituency. But though the party could win only one seat, it was able to garner about 10% of the vote. In turn, Mayawati?s party also drew a blank in terms of seats but bagged a little over 15% of the votes. The two together can expect to corner a significant section of the vote this time.
The Congress bagged 67 out of a total of 90 seats in the previous assembly elections in 2005. The INLD and BJP had contested without an alliance and were able to secure nine and two seats respectively. The BSP and NCP too had secured one seat each while independents had won 10. While all these opposition parties had contested on their own in the previous elections, the BSP?s partnership with HJP and the INLD?s poll pact with the BJP may make a difference in some assembly constituencies this time.
By all accounts, therefore, the ruling party cannot afford to be complacent. It is not just that the two Opposition alliances can only do better after the virtual washout in the Lok Sabha elections. Issues in the Assembly elections are also bound to be different from those in the parliamentary polls. The emphasis would be on local, rather than national, issues.
One of the major factors that went against the then ruling INLD in the previous Assembly elections, for instance, was the poor law and order situation. INLD cadres, particularly at lower levels, had unleashed a reign of terror; many thought that the defeat of the party was mainly due to the perceived lumpenism of its cadres.
The Congress government has done much better on the law and order front. However, the Hooda government has not been able to take a stand on the illegal laws being enforced by khaps or village panchayats, for instance, particularly in matters of inter-caste or inter-gotra marriages.
Another criticism Haryana?s ruling party could be up against is that little progress has been made in the critical power sector. The state continues to reel under long power cuts. The government has drawn up plans to become a power-surplus state in the next three years but the ground reality for now is not encouraging.
