As BJP aims for hattrick in Haryana, party faces anti-incumbency, stronger Congress this time

Chandigarh: The BJP is aiming for a hattrick in the Haryana Assembly polls to be held on October 1 but faces a tough challenge from a resurgent Congress which is looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor.

To offset the Congress challenge, the BJP made a bold move by replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with its then state unit president Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Khattar got elected to the Lok Sabha from Karnal and was made a Union minister while Saini won the Karnal Assembly bypoll that was held along with the general elections.

Saini is the BJP's chief ministerial face for the assembly polls.

The BJP came to power in Haryana on its own for the first time in 2014. Following the 2019 Assembly polls, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala joined hands with the BJP to form a government in the state after the saffron party failed to get a clear majority in the House.

However, the four-and-a-half-year-old alliance ended in March 2024, after Saini replaced Khattar as chief minister.

The Election Commission on Friday announced that Assembly polls in Haryana would be held in a single phase on October 1 and the results would be declared on October 4.

While the Congress is the main challenger to the BJP in the Assembly polls, the JJP, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Aam Aadmi Party are set to field their candidates for the election, making it a multi-cornered contest.

The Aam Aadmi Party has held a series of rallies in the state and announced five "Kejriwal's guarantees" last month, promising free electricity, free medical treatment, free education, employment for youngsters and Rs 1,000 per month for every woman in the state to woo the voters.

However, senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has claimed the Assembly polls will see a "direct fight" between his party and the BJP, and described others in the fray as "vote cutters".

The ruling BJP would look to cash in on the "clean image" of Chief Minister Saini and his predecessor Khattar, and the "transparent administration" provided by the state government.

The BJP has the added advantage of being in power at the Centre, which allows it to pitch to voters its "double-engine capability", a promise of more development if the governments at the Centre and the state are run by the same party.

However, being in power in the state for 10 years, the BJP will have to counter the anti-incumbency factor. The counteract this, the saffron party has been highlighting the work done by its governments at the Centre and in the state over the past decade and several welfare schemes brought for various sections of society.

In recent weeks, the Saini dispensation has been announcing benefits for various sections of society, including farmers. Earlier this month, the Haryana Cabinet approved the proposal of buying 10 more crops at minimum support price (MSP).

With this, the state government will buy a total of 24 crops in Haryana at MSP, the chief minister said. He had also announced waiving outstanding canal water irrigation charges.

The state Cabinet government has given its approval to bring an ordinance for ensuring job security for contractual employees until the age of superannuation, a move that will benefit 1.20 lakh such employees.

It has also given its nod to a policy aimed at providing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to Agniveers after completion of their service in the armed forces. The Haryana Agniveer Policy, 2024, offers benefits in government recruitment, including a 10 per cent horizontal quota for Agniveers in direct recruitment for positions such as constable, mining guard, forest guard and prison warder.

On the other hand, the Congress, in its attempt to return to power in Haryana by riding on the anti-incumbency factor, has made unemployment, law and order, and farmer issues its poll planks.

The Congress has been attacking the BJP over these issues as part of its 'Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign, which was launched on July 15.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that if the Congress forms government in the state, the elderly will be given a monthly pension of Rs 6,000, every family would get 300 units of free electricity each month while LPG cylinders would be provided to women at Rs 500.

The opposition party also got a boost in the recent general elections when it wrested five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana from the BJP and claimed to secure a lead in 46 of the 90 assembly segments.

However, the BJP leaders have been raking up the infighting within the Congress and dubbing it as a "divided house". The BJP has also hit out at Congress' 'Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign and accused it of spreading lies.

The JJP and INLD will have to pull up their socks as both outfits faced a rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The INLD, led by former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, currently has just one member in the Haryana Assembly. The party has been out of power in Haryana since 2005.

In the current 90-member Vidhan Sabha, BJP has 41 members, Congress 29, JJP 10, Independents 5, INLD and Haryana Lokhit Party has one member each while three seats are vacant.