The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana has begun working on micro-management strategies to win all ten Lok Sabha seats once again. A plan has been formulated to pacify party leaders who have voiced their displeasure, as well as to connect new faces with the BJP organisation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday night held a two-hour-long high-level meeting at the party’s New Delhi headquarters to brainstorm and create a roadmap to contest the important Lok Sabha seats.
According to party sources, the BJP is looking to field new faces in some seats—an internal survey narrowed in on certain “weak” seats for the party and revealed that ground reports of certain sitting MPs were not accurate. Sources say Shah has asked state party leaders to nominate two names each as an alternative to such seats.
BJP National President, JP Nadda and National Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh were present in the meeting, where Haryana in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb, CM Manohar Lal Khattar and State President Omprakash Dhankhar were asked to give reports of the party’s standing in the state. It is important to note that thanks to the Modi wave, the BJP won all ten seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Another aspect discussed at the meeting was the party’s alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). State in-charge Deb submitted a report to Shah and the party leadership regarding the alliance. Most Haryana unit leaders are in favour of breaking the alliance, no decisions will be taken until the Union Minister signs off on them. Overall, it can be said that the ball of the alliance is in Amit Shah’s court.
Additionally, due to the demise of Ambala MP Ratanlal Kataria, a new face is sure to enter the fray here. There are also several MPs who aspire to contest the Assembly elections this time. These include the Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia, MP from Karnal, Naib Singh Saini from Kurukshetra and Dharmbir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh. Sonipat MP Ramesh Chandra Kaushik also wants to bring his son into electoral politics while Rohtak MP Dr Arvind Sharma is said to be eying the Karnal constituency. BJP insiders have said that the party will take a final decision only after the division of all the seats. The party is also said to be seriously considering senior leaders who have demanded tickets for their children. However, given the party’s one ticket per family formula, leadership may give the leaders an option to opt out of contesting themselves, should they want a seat for one of their children.