The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is “ready for polls” as it seeks a third term in Haryana, said the party’s election in-charge in the State, Satish Poonia.
Mr. Poonia said the results of the Lok Sabha election, in which the BJP and the Congress won five seats each, prove that the ruling BJP is still in the game.
Haryana Assembly polls
The Election Commission of India on Friday (August 16, 2024) announced dates for a single-phase Assembly election in Haryana scheduled for October 1, with results to be declared on October 4.
“We are ready. The basic work required for going into polls is done. Our main platform will be the work done by the BJP-led Haryana government in the last 10 years and the kind of transparency with which it was done,” said Mr. Poonia, who was the BJP’s State president in Rajasthan before his present assignment.
The BJP, which held all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, saw its tally halve this year, a situation that Mr. Poonia said is akin to a “glass half-full” for the party. “Before the Lok Sabha polls, everyone was sure that the Congress would sweep all the 10 seats in Haryana. But the fact that the BJP managed to win five seats and stall the Congress, along with the fact that we had leads in 44 Assembly seats, are to our advantage,” he said.
While admitting that there is a polarisation between the Jat and non-Jat voters in the State, with the BJP getting much of the non-Jat vote, Mr. Poonia said the Haryana government’s recent decision on Minimum Support Price for 24 crops was “historic” and will be beneficial to the farmers. He added that the middle class and OBCs, especially after the National Commission for Backward Classes was given constitutional status, have benefitted from the BJP governments at the Centre and in the State. “It is a positive for the BJP,” he said.
Mr. Poonia said the BJP was united in its campaign unlike the Congress. “There is infighting within the Congress. When Udai Bhan (Haryana Congress president) and MP Kumari Selja fight openly, that affects the morale of the Congress. People in Haryana want stability,” he said.
The BJP had recently replaced current Union minister M. L. Khattar as Chief Minister and appointed Nayab Singh Saini in his place. Mr. Poonia said that in terms of “morale”, the BJP was a more cohesive unit.
Asked about the opposition to the Agnipath scheme in the State that sends many young people to the armed forces, Mr. Poonia said recent announcements that Agniveers (short-term recruits) will get preference in paramilitary and other jobs have blunted the Opposition’s charge on the matter.
“The fact that the Agniveers are being preferred for further employment in government and other avenues has taken the sting out of that campaign by the Opposition,” said Mr. Poonia.
