Haryana Elections 2024: BJP engaged in damage control, discord in Congress; who will benefit?
The last date for withdrawal of nomination in Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 is September 16. Now all the parties have started taming the rebels in mission mode.
Haryana Elections: 12th September was the last day to file nominations for elections in Haryana. Both BJP and Congress faced a lot of difficulty in distributing tickets this time. BJP has been in power for 10 years and is looking for its third term, so it had the longest line of claimants, while Congress wants to end its decade-long political exile by taking advantage of the anti-incumbency wave. So there was no dearth of ticket seekers here either. Due to this, it could not even form an alliance with AAP and SP. The result of all this was that those who had already made up their mind to contest the elections have now entered the fray by filing nominations from somewhere or the other. Now all the parties are worried about stopping these rebels because 16th September is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
According to rebel
sources of BJP, BJP has received feedback that the leaders who are angry at not getting tickets on many seats have not rebelled, but they have stayed at home by staying away from the election campaign. The party is facing rebellion or displeasure on more than two dozen seats. According to BJP sources, the party has assigned responsibility to some senior, experienced and old workers at the district and state level to persuade the rebel leaders. This group of leaders will try to persuade the rebels. Wherever needed to persuade the rebels, the help of Sangh leaders and workers will also be taken.
The party high command will also monitor this entire campaign from Delhi and if there is a need to talk to any rebel leader, then the national leadership i.e. the party high command will be ready to talk to them and give assurance for the future. BJP has successfully used a similar formula in many other states including Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Discord in Congress
This time Congress is hopeful that it will be successful in ousting BJP from power. But, the way Congress leaders and workers left the party one by one after the ticket distribution and joined parties like INLD and AAP, it tells a lot. This is not considered a good sign for Congress in this election. There are many other reasons behind this: one is the decision of Congress to contest the assembly elections alone, second is Congress not forming an alliance with AAP and most importantly, the regional parties of Haryana like INLD and JJP are putting in a lot of effort for this election.
Factionalism is also being seen in the Congress. On one side are supporters of Kumari Selja, on the other side are supporters of Bhupendra Hooda and on the third side are Congress workers and leaders who support Randeep Singh Surjewala.
INLD's advantage?
In view of all this, according to political analysts, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) seems to be making a big comeback in the game by giving a direct fight to Congress on at least 30 seats in Haryana. The biggest reason behind this is also the infighting within the Congress party. Because, many leaders and workers of Congress have joined INLD and INLD has also given tickets to many of them.
SP's 'sacrifice'
No one had imagined the fate of the All India Alliance before the Haryana assembly elections. Congress, AAP and Samajwadi Party were raising their voices to contest against BJP together. Aam Aadmi Party had understood that now Congress will not contest the elections here in alliance with their party. In such a situation, they hurriedly fielded their candidates. But, SP was waiting for the signal from Congress that maybe someday they will get a hint and the alliance will contest against BJP with full force. But, Samajwadi Party's wait became too long and Congress did not confirm this till the last moment. Samajwadi Party's bag remained empty in Haryana assembly elections too.