With the announcement of Lok Sabha elections, the ruling and opposition parties are intensifying their preparations through canvassing, organisational appointments and finalisations of candidates for parliamentary seats in Haryana. Although Lok Sabha elections are to be held in the sixth phase in Haryana on May 25 in the sixth phase, but be it ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) or main opposition party Congress or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) or Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) former alliance partner of the BJP, no faction seems taking polls with casual approach. Besides, with the Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls due in the month of May and October respectively, the prestige of the political stalwarts from all factions is at stake as the forthcoming polls are going to be a litmus test for all of them. The saffron BJP is the only party so far that has come up with the announcement of the candidates for all 10 Lok Sabha seats while the Congress, INLD and the JJP still remain undecided. Being regional parties, the stalwarts of JJP and INLD are themselves the high command of their parties, hence they are not much worried, but the stalwarts of BJP and Congress have a big challenge to prove themselves to the high command.
Despite his resignation from the post of the Chief Minister last month , the prevailing political scenario in the BJP clearly indicates that Manohar Lal still holds the fort and the same is also evident from the induction of newly appointed ministers in state cabinet. Most of the newly inducted ministers are considered close and confidant to Manohar Lal. It is also evident from the finalisation of tickets of the Lok Sabha candidates that he is still at the helm of affairs as well as power centre. Since the BJP has fielded him from Karnal Lok Sabha seat, it would not be less than an uphill task for him to win the battle. Besides, Manohar Lal has played key role in fielding Ashok Tanwar, an entrant in the BJP and Ranjeet Singh Chautala from Sirsa and Hisar Lok Sabha seats respectively. The BJP has succeeded in winning all 10 parliamentary seats in 2019 during Modi wave and in wake of this, Manohar Lal has a huge responsibility to accomplish the party’s goals in terms of winning the maximum Lok Sabha seats. Political experts opine that despite being appointed Nayab Saini new CM of Haryana, Manohar Lal who is a confidant and in good books of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the Lok Sabha campaign of the BJP in the state. Thus, along with emerging victorious on Karnal Lok Sabha seat, Manohar Lal has to prove his mettle by keeping the momentum alive like earlier.
Likewise, Bhupender Singh Hooda, a Congress heavyweight and the Leader of Opposition who is believed to have a unilateral hold in the state Congress, also has the huge responsibility on his shoulders to win the maximum seats in the polls. With the support of the around 25 Congress MLA’s Hooda emerges as the sole power center in the party adding to the woes of the opposite faction in the party known as SRK including National General Secretary of Congress Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala and sitting MLA Kiran Chaudhary. Due to the widened rift among the Hooda and SRK group, the Congress remains undecided in terms of finalisations of tickets and is yet to declare candidates as both factions are seeking maximum Lok Sabha tickets for their aide and supporters. Since Bhupender Singh Hooda has denied contesting the parliamentary polls, his son Deepender Singh Hooda is most likely to be fielded from the Rohtak seat known as the bastion of Hooda family. It is pertinent to mention that Deepender was the only contestant who lost to the BJP candidate with a small margin of 7503 votes during the Modi wave. In wake of aforementioned, if Congress fails to fulfill the expectations of the party as well rise to the occasion, then it may impact Hooda’s politics as well resulting in favour of Kumari Selja, Kiran Choudhary and Randeep.
Similarly, the JJP leaders including former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, his father Dr Ajay Chautala and his younger brother Digvijay Chautala are facing people’s ere ahead of polls while canvassing. The way party leaders are facing the displeasure and being denied entry in the villages, the party is believed to go through a lot in future. In such a situation, JJP President Dr. Ajay Chautala, his son Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay have a big challenge to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Similarly, SRK faction, the trio of Surjewala, Selja and Kiran Choudhary will also have to prove their mettle in a bid to emerge dominating in the party.