Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Congress Party leader Bhupendra Singh Hooda on Sunday predicted a major defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming state assembly elections. He said the party would be devastated in the state assembly elections scheduled for October-November.
“Last time, we didn’t win a single seat in the Lok Sabha, but we won 31 seats in the state assembly elections,” he said, referring to the Congress’ failure to win any seats in Haryana in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This time, the veteran party won five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. “This time, the BJP’s seats will be halved in the Lok Sabha elections and it will be wiped out in the Haryana Assembly elections,” Hooda said at a press conference.
Haryana Congress leader Uday Bhan said in the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP was ahead in 79 seats, while the Congress was ahead in 10 and the JJP in just one. Now, the Congress is leading in 46 constituencies, while the saffron party’s lead has come down to 44 seats. While the Congress’ vote share has increased by 15 per cent, the BJP’s vote share has fallen by nearly 12 per cent, he said.
“The people have made up their mind. If this is the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, we will win 70 per cent of the parliamentary seats,” the state president of the Indian National Congress party said.
In the 2019 state assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats, the Congress Party 31 and Dushyant Chautala-led JJP 10. Abhay Singh Chautala-led INLD won one seat.
Earlier this month, Hooda had said the Congress was ready for the upcoming state assembly elections and would form the next government in Haryana. “Based on the response in the Lok Sabha elections and the vote share we have received in Haryana, I can say that we will form the Haryana government with a landslide majority,” he said.
“The 36 Biradaris are determined that the Congress will form the government,” the former chief minister said. He also reiterated that no coalition would be formed in the state. “Coalitions have been formed in national elections but no such coalition has been formed in state assembly elections.”
The Indian National Congress is confident of victory in the next state elections, but the traditional party recently suffered a setback when its incumbent MP, Kiran Chaudhary, resigned to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with her daughter Shruti, who is the daughter-in-law of former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal.
