Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Joda Yatra is set to enter Haryana in its second phase on 5 January in Haryana and will cover four districts falling on the GT road belt. All the Congress stalwarts are on toes to make yatra a successful conduct. But gathering huge crowds during the second phase of the yatra will be an uphill task for the party leaders as the ruling BJP owns a stronghold in four districts namely Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala located on GT road belt. Besides, Karnal is the home turf of the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who succeeded in winning the last assembly battle from the seat with a sizable chunk.
There are a total of 17 assembly seats in these four districts. Panipat has 4 assembly seats and out of which the BJP and the Congress own equal share. Karnal, bastion of the CM Karnal has a total of 5 assembly seats. Out of these, 3 seats were occupied by the BJP while a Congress and independent MLA Dharampal Gonder succeeded in winning the elections. Dharampal Gonder had won the election after he was denied ticket by the BJP from Nilokheri constituency and later had extended support to the BJP after winning the election.
There are four seats in adjoining Kurukshetra district, out of which BJP and the Congress occupy 4 seats, 2 each while one seat is occupied by the JJP . In continuation to this, Ambala has 4 assembly seats which are divided among the BJP and the Congress equally, 2 each. Apart from aforesaid, the BJP MP›s occupy all three Lok sabha seats Karnal, Ambala and Kurukshetra falling on GT road belt in this region.