Will the outcome of Baroda bypoll be a turning point in the politics of Haryana? The way both the BJP and the Congress are making best of their efforts to corner this seat has raised this question.
Haryana›s Baroda constituency, which is dominated by Jats, has been traditionally with the Congress. But Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar wants to break this tradition. Khattar is trying to win this seat to increase his strength in the Assembly and also to send out a message to the Jat community.
Realising Khattar’s Jat politics, the Congress is formulating its strategy from that angle. It wants to win the Baroda seat by a huge margin so that it could create a pressure on the JJP which is part of the BJP-led government in Haryana. The Congress believes that by winning a Jat-dominated seat it can give Khattar anxious moments.
The Khattar-led government’s key constituent, the JJP, is already under political pressure due to the farm laws. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Kisan Yatra’ against the farm laws has created an atmosphere which added to pressure on the JJP. Now the Congress high command has left everything to former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Vivek Bansal, who is in-charge of Haryana Congress, claims that the Congress will bring about a wave of change in the state by winning the Baroda seat with record votes. Congress strategists believe that the Baroda bypoll result will be a mandate against the BJP government and the farm laws. That is the reason why the Congress has made the Baroda by-election a prestige issue.
Meanwhile, the Congress high command is trying to ensure the return of those leaders who have left the party in the state. Ashok Tanwar along with his supporters left the party after being removed from the post of PCC chief during the Assembly elections.
According to sources, Rahul also wants that the leaders who have left the Congress should come back to strengthen the organisation. But at the same time, Rahul will not tolerate anything against seniors of the party as he had indicated during the Kisan Yatra.
The Baroda bypoll is also a political test for Hooda. It was because of Hooda that Jats had voted substantially for the Congress in the As sembly polls which helped the party win 31 seats. The BJP stopped short of the majority mark by six seats and got only 40 seats, with the result that it had to take support from the JJP and independents to form the government in Haryana. It means the government is depending on the JJP for its survival. If farmers’ agitation against the farm laws intensifies, then the JJP will be under more pressure and in that case it will have to take an important call. The SAD’s exit from the NDA at the Centre has already led to pressure on the JJP.
JJP’s leader Dushyant Chautala is of the view that his outfit is a newbie and if it exits the alliance in the state, then Congress would manage to form the government or mid-term polls will be held. He is not confident of the JJP doing well again if polls are held again prematurely. And if the Congress manages to come back to power, then it will be difficult for him to save the JJP. BJP strategists believe that the JJP will not leave the alliance now. At the same time, the saffron outfit is not taking any chance and is, therefore, trying hard to win the Baroda seat where voting will take place on 3 November.