Why AAP will not have a smooth ride in Haryana

by Rajendra Khatry Chandigarh: In the Jat dominated politics of Haryana, the going is getting tougher for the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in the run up to the general elections. The party is contesting on all the ten Lok Sabha seats in the state and claiming it would do a repeat of its Delhi show, but political analysts see it as nothing more than poll-time big talk. The party is up against the Modi wave and the Chautala family’s influence in the traditional strongholds is not on the wane yet. Besides, both the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) have put up seasoned candidates. The one and only real chance of the party winning a Lok Sabha seat seems to be Gurgaon from where AAP’s top leader Yogendra Yadav is contesting. Here too, Yadav is pitted against a two very strong candidates - Rao Inderjit Singh of the BJP who quit the Congress before the elections and the popular Meo leader Zakir Hussain besides Rao Dharampal Singh of the Congress. The AAP’s problems emanate from the fact that it lacks popular names and faces as far as its candidates are concerned. These relatively weak candidates are pitted against political veterans of the BJP, the INLD, the Congress and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) who have years of experience behind them. The `rookies’ of the AAP are not going to make any dent in the vote bank of the national and the regional parties. [caption id=“attachment_1469857” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AAP candidate from Haryana, Yogendra Yadav. Sandip roy/Firstpost[/caption] For example on the Hisar seat, the AAP has fielded a former bureaucrat, Yudhvir Singh Khyalia, who sought a premature retirement from the Haryana government recently to join the party. Khyalia is facing three very strong candidates-HJC’s sitting MP, Kuldip Bishnoi, son of late chief minister Bhajan Lal, Dushyant Chautala, grandson of Om Prakash Chautala of the INLD and former finance minister of Haryana, Sampat Singh of the Congress. The party’s candidate from Kurukshetra constituency, Balwinder Kaur, is a matriculate, a housewife and a totally unknown face. Her husband, Gurnam Singh is a member of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, a farmers’ outfit. Balwinder’s track record is clean, but her husband has a tainted past and had been convicted in s two cases as well.  In the past Gurnam Singh served a jail term, but is a free man today. Balwinder Kaur, president of the Pharunijattan Mahila Mandal, is facing sitting MP, Naveen Jindal of the Congress, former minister, Balbir Singh Saini of the INLD and another former minister, Raj Kumar Saini of the BJP. One can as well imagine the fate of the AAP candidate in such a contest. In the Ambala reserved seat, the AAP candidate, SP Singh is hardly known, although he claims to have played a crucial role in the crusade against Haryana’s former DGP SPS Rathore, who had allegedly molested Ruchika Girhotra. SP Singh is facing tough opponents in former MP Ratan Lal Kataria of the BJP, Raj Kumar Valmiki of the Congress and Kusum Sherwal of the INLD. Both Kataria and Valmiki are popular Dalit leaders and have loads of experience that S P Singh lacks. In Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, the stronghold of Congress Shruti Chowdhry, sitting MP, daughter of Haryana minister Kiran Chowdhry and granddaughter of late Bansi Lal, the chances of Lalit Aggarwal, a close friend of Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP seem dim in the presence of former Congress chief parliamentary secretary, Dharambir Singh of the BJP and Rao Bahadur Singh of the INLD on the same seat. Another AAP candidate, Poonam Chand Ratti is pitted against very strong opponents from the Congress, the HJC and the INLD in the Sirsa constituency. Haryana Congress president and sitting MP, Ashok Tanwar, veteran politician Sushil Indora of the HJC and Charanjeet Singh Rori of the INLD are locked in a fierce battle against each other. An unknown face, Paramjeet Singh of the AAP is facing strong rivals from the Congress, sitting MP Dr Arvind Sharma, former minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu of the INLD, Ashwini Chopra of the BJP and Maratha Virender Verma of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Chances of Purshotam Dagar, a small scale entrepreneur and AAP candidate from Faridabad too don’t seem any bright in the presence of sitting MP Avtar Singh Bhadana of the Congress, Krishan Pal Gujjar of the BJP and lawyer R K Anand of the INLD. Prospects of the AAP candidates in Rohtak and Sonipat too don’t seem very bright. Navin Jaihind, a former student leader is facing sitting MP Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress and Om Prakash Dhankar of the BJP in Rohtak, while Jaisingh Thekedar of AAP is pitted against veterans Ramesh Kaushik of the BJP, Jagbir Singh Malik of the Congress and Padam Singh Dahiya of the INLD. The AAP spokesman Rajiv Godara says despite the fact that AAP’s candidates are not so well-known, the party’s campaign in all parts of the state has gone well and they are sure of the Gurgaon seat and very hopeful of others. Questioned on the response to his party in Haryana polls, senior AAP leader Yogender Yadav says he no more forecasts election prospects, but the end results in Haryana will be very good. ``Our objective is to cleanse the entire political system in Haryana and the rest of the country,’’ he says.