How despite internal battles, Congress may win in Haryana

Even though the Congress is facing anti-incumbency across the country, it’s in the small state of Haryana that the party seems to be back in the reckoning. It however, has nothing to do with the party and its strategy, and is more a result of the opposition, which remains divided.

After being in power for two consecutive terms, CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda may have a smile on his face for now. The main reason for it may be the disarray among the three main opposition parties.

Even though the BJP has tied up with Haryana Janhit Congress led by former CM Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldip Bishnoi, the saffron party seems closer to OP Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal. The neighbouring state of Punjab has very much to do with the complex relationship between the BJP, HJC and INLD.

Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal has very close ties with the Chautalas of Haryana dating back to the days of the Emergency. Former Deputy PM Chaudhari Devi Lal was the binding factor for both these political families. The Badals have been pushing for a BJP-INLD alliance, but senior leader Sushma Swaraj prevailed in favour of a BJP-HJC partnership. This message seems to have percolated to the party cadre as confusion prevails in the rank and file of the state units of both BJP and HJC over the uneasy alliance.

The Congress seems to be benefiting the most from the ambivalence of the opposition. The party had won 9 out of 10 seats in 2009, with Hisar being the only seat that went to Bhajan Lal. After he passed away in 2011, his son Kuldip Bishnoi (HJC) won the by-election by a wafer thin margin of 6300 votes defeating OP Chautala’s son, Ajay. This time around, the contest is not going to be easier.

Ajay Chautala’s son Dushyant is in the fray against Bishnoi. This is one of the few seats where the Congress is not in contention, even though the party has fielded former Chautala aide Sampat Singh. The INLD is banking heavily on sympathy to help them wrest this prestigious seat given OP Chautala and son Ajay are in jail since last year for their role in the recruitment of Junior Basic Teachers (JBT).

“Instead of holding meetings for planning strategy to tarnish the image of INLD leaders,  the Chief Minister should have focused on deteriorating law & order, developmental projects and development of the state,” Abhay Chautala said.

The Congress can expect smooth sailing in Deepinder Hooda’s constituency of Rohtak, Naveen Jindal’s Kurukshetra, Shruti Chowdhury’s Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Arvind Sharma’s Karnal seats. Karnal was in the limelight as HJC had named former Congress minister Venod Sharma as its candidate, but had to withdraw after the BJP put its foot down against it. HJC has now swapped Karnal for the Sirsa seat and the BJP will contest from Karnal. This indecision could going to cost the alliance, given it allows a head start to sitting MP Arvind Sharma.

The current Congress MP from Faridabad, Avtar Singh Bhadana, has also managed to repair his image to a great degree. His reputation had taken a beating when AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal claimed he was “corrupt”. Bhadana responded with a Rs one crore defamation suit in the Delhi High Court last month. This seat has sizeable urban vote which could swing towards the AAP while the BJP has also fielded a candidate from the Gujjar community, to which Bhadana belongs. But Bhadana  also enjoys support of the business community which will be crucial to his game plan.

“Congress party has helped my efforts to bring the Metro to Faridabad,” Bhadana, a two-time MP, said.

“The people of Faridabad know who has done what for them. All other candidates have nothing to show as contributions to Faridabad. This place has seen unprecedented growth in the past ten years. People will vote for development,” he said.

Gurgaon will see a battle between the two Yadav leaders of BJP and AAP. Sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh has switched over to BJP from Congress while AAP has fielded psephologist Yogendra Yadav.

Elsewhere, BJP has given the ticket to a Brahmin Ramesh Kaushik from the Jat-dominated seat of Sonipat. Senior BJP leader Pradeep Sangwan, also a Jat, joined the Congress to support Jagbir Malik, also a Jat, as the Congress nominee.

The reserved seats of Sirsa and Ambala will witness a keen contest too, and former Youth Congress chief Ashok Tanwar’s fate in Sirsa  will depend on which way the religious sect of Dera Sacha Sauda decides to go.

With the Congress in the front in almost 7-8 seats of the state, it stands a good chance of converting a majority of them into wins.

“We have given good governance to the people of Haryana. People do not want goonda raj to come back into the state. They only want it to remain as a bad memory now,” Randeep Singh Surjewala, spokesperson of the Congress, said in an apparent swipe at the Chautalas.

The only problem facing the party is factionalism with a regional satrap in almost every district. The list is endless, right from Chief Minister Hooda to Rajya  Sabha MPs Chaudhary Birendra Singh and Kumari Selja. State minister Kiran Chowdhury remains the other force along with Surjewala, Bhadana and industrialist Naveen Jindal.

But these leaders also realise that the situation looks grim for the party at the national level. Even though they may not want to share the dais with each other, “realpolitik” calls for a truce, as there will always be time to take on each other when the battle of Lok Sabha 2014 is won.