The Congress is yet to officially come up with a campaign theme for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections but it will focus on mandi aur taalabandi (showdown and shutdown) mode of the economy.
The Congress party has identified specific industrial clusters where the slowdown has had a direct impact in terms scaling down of businesses and job losses.
Among the industrial belt and sectors identified include the plywood industry in Yamuna Nagar, cooking utensil manufacturing industry in Jagadhri, scientific equipment manufacturing clusters in Ambala, agricultural equipment factories in Karnal, textile units in Panipat, apparel export units in Gurugram and the automobile plants in Manesar.
“I have been using mandi and taalabandi wherever I am campaigning as all these areas have seen shutdowns. But the party is in the process of crystallising the issues,” said Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the party and Kaithal MLA.
The Congress said the cut in corporate taxes, announced by the Centre on Thursday, would not help as it neither creates jobs nor would increase demand.
“Small jobs are created by micro enterprises and traders. These sections have got nothing. So, how can they create additional jobs?” asked Mr. Surjewala.
“In the rest of India, unemployment is 6% but for us, it is as high as 29%.”
After being decimated in the Lok Sabha polls — BJP won all the 10 seats — the Congress is fighting a battle for its survival in a State that it ruled for 10 years since 2004.
So, while its top leaders like Bhupinder Singh Hooda have taken care to back the government on sensitive issues like Article 370 and the demand for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Haryana, the Congress is trying to focus on the State government’s track record in other areas like jobs, law and order and farm sector distress in the agriculture-dominated State.
The Congress, for example, has alleged that export of premium quality rice to international markets has been affected after traces of pesticide found in them but Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s government has failed to come to the rescue of rice growers.
“Exports worth ₹2,000 crore have not been lifted from the ports of Arab countries because neither the Centre nor the Khattar government acted in time,” claimed Mr. Surjewala.
On Sunday, State chief Kumari Selja tweeted that the party had seen a heavy rush of ticket seekers and that’s why it extended the date to receive application from potential candidates until September 25.
