Regrouping of political parties on for upcoming Haryana Assembly elections

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, July 5

Regrouping of political parties has started for the upcoming elections to the state Assembly. The Congress, AAP and the Left parties had joined hands for the recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, but the situation may not be the same in the Assembly elections.

After a recent meeting with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national general secretary (organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak, the party’s Haryana unit president Dr Sushil Gupta recently stated that the matter of a pre-poll alliance in the state would be decided by the AAP national leadership.

However, he said the party was capable of contesting the elections in all 90 Assembly constituencies of the state. The state leadership of the Congress also seems keen on contesting the Assembly poll on its own rather than collaborating with any other party.

Nonetheless, the CPM and CPI have said the Congress was the main Opposition party in Haryana and hence, it should mobilise the secular and democratic organisations to end the BJP’s 10-year-long misrule in the state.

As per political observers, the outcome of the recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana indicates that the elections to the state Assembly are going to be quite challenging for the ruling as well as the opposition parties.

“The BJP will face an anti-incumbency factor after its two successive tenures in the state and hence employ every trick of the trade to retain the reins of power. The Congress appears to have an edge as of now, but its performance will depend on the selection of candidates,” states Dr Ranbir Kadiyan, a political analyst.

He said there was no room for complacency for the BJP or the Congress in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections. He observed that apart from the seniority of the leaders, their electability should also be considered before the allocation of tickets.

“The other parties, including the JJP, INLD, AAP and BSP, do not have a considerable mass base in the state. Some of these parties may join hands with each other in a bid to strengthen their position,” says Dr Kadiyan.

He said the unemployment prevailing even among the highly educated and professionally qualified youth of Haryana would be a major issue during the Assembly elections.

“The Haryana Government may try to placate the unemployed youth by giving some jobs before the elections, but it may not win over a major chunk of the state’s youth at this stage,” opines the observer.