New Delhi: As Haryana gears up for the state assembly elections in October, both the BJP and the Indian National Congress have begun tightening their election strategies. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the BJP in a crucial meeting with party leaders in Kurukshetra on June 29. Meanwhile, the Indian National Congress last week launched a comprehensive ‘100-day meeting’ with workers across the state. Amid allegations of factionalism among state leaders, Indian National Congress leaders are also likely to hold talks with state leaders to fine-tune their election strategies.
After losing five Lok Sabha seats to the Indian National Congress in the recently concluded general elections, the BJP has turned its attention to the Haryana assembly elections. The BJP rally scheduled for Saturday comes days after back-to-back rallies for the saffron party led by its election chief and Union minister Dharmendela Pradhan and co-chief Biplab Deb.
The meeting will also be attended by Haryana Chief Minister and state BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister and former state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Among the state leaders participating in the meeting are former state BJP leader Om Parkash Dhankar, former minister Captain Abhimanyu, Rajya Sabha member Subhash Bharara and around 2,500 members of the state executive.
Meanwhile, the Haryana Congress has already started holding district-level workers’ meetings.Haryana Congress chief Deepak Babaria on Wednesday met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
After the meeting, Bavaria said, “I met senior party leaders and 40 leaders of the Haryana unit. Our vote share in the state has increased to 47.69 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Mr Gandhi has appreciated this and asked him to help the party win the state Assembly elections. I can confidently say that we will win the state Assembly elections and win more than 70 seats.”
He also said that the Congress would fight the assembly elections alone, but things may change if other parties make different proposals to the top brass.
A day before the crucial meeting, Bavaria met all the party candidates who contested in the Lok Sabha elections. However, sources said only eight candidates, including the four unsuccessful candidates, excluding Kumari Selja, who is at odds with the state leadership, met Bavaria to provide feedback on the response of voters and Decembalists in the party.
After the workers’ rallies at the district level, the Indian National Congress will also hold similar interaction at the assembly level in all 90 seats. It is pertinent to mention that compared to all states, the Indian Union won the highest vote share of 47.6% in Haryana. In contrast to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, this time the Indian National Congress is leading in 46 seats out of the total 90 seats, with the Indian National Congress’ vote share increasing by 15% while the BJP’s vote share has decreased by around 12%.
