BJP fancies victory in Haryana

With just a couple of days left for polling in Haryana, the BJP alliance in the state seeks the mandate of the people for its chosen candidates, majority of whom are turncoats who recently switched sides from the Congress.

Critics within the saffron party say the BJP struggled with suitable candidates for the general elections this time, which is why, perhaps ironically, it is now banking on former Congressmen to win as official party nominees. The fallout of this was obvious — widespread dissent within the party. Those who took over the saffron party hue are hoping they will sail through in what they perceive as a “Modi wave” of sorts. 

Haryana has 10 parliamentary seats, and the BJP, which is in alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), has as many as six turncoat candidates in fray, including one who is a political greenhorn, and an outsider who runs a leading vernacular daily as editor and owner. As per the seat sharing arrangement, out of the total 10 seats, the BJP is contesting on eight seats while the HJC has two seats to contend with. Out of the eight seats in the BJP fold, four include those where the party has fielded leaders who were till recently with the Congress.

Old Congress warhorse and three-time sitting MP from Gurgaon Roa Inderjit Singh broke his 36-year relationship with the Congress ahead of the elections to fight on the BJP ticket from the cyber city of Gurgaon.

Hooda’s loyalist and four-time MLA Dharambir Singh left the Congress and is contesting from the Bhiwani-Mahindergarh parliamentary seat. Besides these two seats, the BJP has preferred to go with turncoats from the Congress in Sonipat and Kurukshetra. The BJP’s fifth candidate Ashwani Chopra who owns Punjab Kesari, New Delhi, is considered an outsider and is fighting his first election. He bagged the BJP ticket after the party overlooked senior saffron party leaders from the constituency.