Haryana poll outcome surprising, Saini not a mass leader: Anand Sharma

Patna: Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Monday termed as "surprising" the results of the recently held assembly polls in Haryana, claiming that the BJP's win belied the popular sentiment prevailing in the northern state.

Speaking in presence of the party's Haryana unit president Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Sharma also said the former chief minister could not return to power despite being a mass leader, while incumbent Nayab Singh Saini was enjoying a second consecutive term in spite of not being a "jan neta" (mass leader).

The former Union minister, who is also a member of Congress Working Committee, was addressing a function of the Bihar unit organised on the birth anniversary of the state's first chief minister Shri Krishna Singh.

"We all saw what happened in Haryana. How surprising were the results. People's mood suggested something else, but what came out of the machines (EVMs) was entirely different,” said Sharma.

Most analysts and exit polls had predicted a victory for the Congress in Haryana, where the BJP had been in power since 2014 and was feeling the heat of the incumbency factor, farmers' protests and female wrestlers' stir.

However, even as the Congress' vote share rose by more than 10 per cent compared with the previous assembly polls, it fell short of majority while the BJP, which also improved its vote share by four per cent, notched up its best-ever seat tally.

Sharma turned towards Hooda to remark "he is a big leader of Haryana, but could not become the CM. On the other hand, the CM is not a ‘jan neta’ of the state... But, the people are watching everything and we need not lose heart".

Saini, who has been in electoral politics for just about a decade, was made the Haryana BJP president a year ago and was asked to replace Manohar Lal Khattar as the CM in March upon the latter's resignation.

Sharma also stressed on the need for "revival" of the Congress in north India, including Bihar where the party last formed government 35 years ago.

The former Union minister also decried alleged attempts by the ruling BJP at the Centre to “rewrite history by erasing contributions of luminaries of the past” and pointed out “ours is an ancient civilization. We should not try to suggest as if everything happened only after 2014 (when Narendra Modi ascended to power)”.