Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 | Cautious Congress tries to bridge internal rifts, expand voter base

Karnal & Hisar: Stung by its defeat in direct duels with the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections last year, the Congress in Haryana is treading with extreme caution in the last leg of the campaign to paper over differences within the state unit and create an inclusive overarching theme to win over communities outside its core support base.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s thrust after an initial hiatus is aimed at galvanising anti-incumbency votes across caste community lines and the urban-rural divide against the BJP’s 10-year rule to breast ahead at the finish line in what is crystallising as a largely bipolar election.

The first rally that Rahul addressed was at Assandh, at the border of Karnal and Jind district. The constituency was carefully chosen as the Congress candidate and sitting MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi is considered close to the party general secretary Kumari Selja.

The Dalit leader and Sirsa MP had been sulking and had taken a break from campaigning as former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda walked away with a lion’s share of tickets for his supporters.

The 27 per cent Jat votes in Haryana combined with the 21 per cent Dalit population form the core of Congress’ support base in the state. An assertion by the Jat community under Hooda’s leadership has the potential to upset the apple cart.

Sensing murmurs of discontent in the Congress camp over the sidelining of anti-Hooda leadership, former CM and union minister Manohar Lal Khattar was quick to invite Selja to join the BJP. In his election rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbed Congress “anti-Dalit”, predicting “the Congress’ balloon in Haryana will burst as it did in Madhya Pradesh.”

Rahul's roadshows

Learning from its bitter experience from the shock defeats in MP and Chhattisgarh, Congress has stepped on the gas by organising Rahul Gandhi’s roadshows across the state in the past three days.

The tone and the tenor of the campaign are aimed to drag the election away from the Jat vs others narrative the BJP has sought to create. The broader leitmotif of Rahul’s speeches has been the lack of jobs in Haryana.

Citing his interaction with a group of youth from the state during his recent visit to the US, the leader of Opposition in the Assandh rally said scant job opportunities are forcing youth to “illegally migrate to the US at great risk.”

The rally held at the new Ajan Mandi had a fair attendance of farmers and grain traders who complained of inordinate delays in grain procurement.

For the first time in many years, Congress also senses traction in urban pockets hitherto dominated by the BJP. The state government’s flagship scheme to issue property identity cards has come in for sharp criticism in the wake of discrepancies in data collection.

“Once the error is made, its rectification is a long and tedious process for which one has to travel to Chandigarh at times,” rues a trader in Hisar, the seat from where Kamal Gupta, Urban Development Minister in the Khattar government is seeking re-election.

Assembly Elections 2024 | In the first assembly polls since the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi and the BJP face a rejuvenated and vindicated Opposition in the Haryana assembly polls. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir is voting after almost a decade and it remains to be seen how the abrogation of Article 370 has impacted the political landscape of the Valley. Track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.