Wilting lotus?

In what is expected to be a direct BJP-Congress contest, the latter's fortunes seem to be on the rise

-  MOHIT SHARMA

As Haryana prepares to vote in the assembly elections on October 1, the issues in the state are largely the same as they were in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. There was and is ire against the BJP government for its policies, and a resurgent Congress has become its main challenger in the Jat heartland.

Ever since Manohar Lal Khattar resigned as chief minister on March 12, Haryana politics has been eventful. Replacing Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini— an OBC leader and now the BJP’s face for the state elections—was the start of a course correction by the incumbents. Khattar, now a Union minister, was seen as the cause for people’s anger over quotas, farm laws and the alleged disrespect towards female wrestlers. The subsequent parting of ways with the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the withdrawal of support from three independent MLAs, and a split verdict in the Lok Sabha elections signalled that putting its house in order would be hard for the party in power for the past decade. Compared with 2014 and 2019, the BJP seems to be on shaky ground, despite its recent efforts.

Two questions now dominate the political landscape: can the BJP recover lost ground? And how much can the Congress capitalise on the situation?

For the BJP, it is an uphill task. The primary challenges include overcoming the anti-incumbency of two terms, deep resentment over the Agniveer scheme, farmers’ anger, unemployment and drug addiction. Adding to this are secondary issues that have a spiralling localised effect. “Together, these are hurting the BJP’s prospects a lot,” said a senior BJP leader.