Even as all the political majors step up their respective campaigns in Haryana, the AAP has spelt out its “five guarantees’’ for the people of the state if elected to power besides announcing rallies for all the 90 assembly segments across the state for the next fortnight. A report by Rajesh Moudgil
While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is currently in judicial custody in the Delhi excise policy-related case, his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, has launched five AAP `guarantees’ for the people of Haryana if voted to power, at a party event in Panchkula city on July 20, last.
These `guarantees’ (read poll promises), she held, are – better health services at mohalla clinics level, free domestic power supply to all, better free school education, Rs 1,000 per month for every woman and employment to every unemployed youth of the state.
These “guarantees’’ held political import as assembly elections are due in October this year in Haryana.
The July 20 event was also addressed by the Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Sandeep Pathak, besides all the senior Haryana leaders including state president Sushil Gupta and senior vice president Anurag Dhanda.
Speaking on the occasion, Sunita highlighted how Arvind Kejriwal, who belonged to a village of district Hisar of Haryana, fought for justice for people, became the chief minister of the national capital and did what the big political parties and top leaders could not do.
She asked the gathering if they would remain silent while Haryana’s son, Arvind Kejriwal, has been put in jail.
Exhorting the gathering to bring the AAP to power in Haryana, Punjab CM Mann hit out at the ruling BJP on various state and national issues including the Agnipath scheme.
Stating that while the BJP made false promises and AAP gave guarantees, he said that the AAP had already announced that it would go solo in the upcoming assembly elections and it was confident that it would form the government as the people had made up their mind to bring a change in the state.
Meanwhile, starting July 26, the AAP has also begun to hold 45 rallies in the next 15 days across the state.
Announcing the AAP rallies schedule on July 25, Dhanda said, these would be addressed by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP national convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and party’s national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak, besides the state leaders.
In all, there are 90 assembly segments in the state.
Dhanda said that the leaders during their rallies would disseminate information and awareness about the AAP’s five guarantees. “We will take these questions among the people. These five guarantees are in the basic ideology of AAP’’, he said and added that apart from this, the party will bring very detailed plans on every issue related to farmers, students and women of Haryana.
Notably, even though the AAP has contested Lok Sabha, assembly and civic polls in the past, it has not tasted electoral success in Haryana so far.
Cong’s `Haryana Mange Hisaab’ campaign
For record, in the House of 90, the ruling BJP had won 40 seats in the 2019 state polls, principal opposition party Congress won 31, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10 and there were nine others.
The Congress has already launched its “Haryana Mange Hisab’ campaign which is being led by Deepender Hooda, who is a five-term MP and son of two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who also has a separate plan to take out a “rath yatra’’ ahead of assembly polls in days to come.
Deepender plans to take out the drive to 14 out of 90 assembly constituencies across the state in the first leg – focussing on the nine districts along the Delhi-Ambala national highway, also called GT road. The Jat heartland – especially the Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar region – has been Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s citadel.
The party also aims to enhance its sway it garnered in recently held Lok Sabha polls when it achieved its highest vote share for INDIA bloc nationwide at 47.61% and bagged five of the total 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana. It was a decade later, the Congress had staged a comeback and won five of the total 10 seats.
A free hand to Hooda senior notwithstanding in the upcoming assembly polls, the Congress, however, has its own set of challenges as one of the party senior leaders, Kiran Choudhry and Kuldeep Bishnoi from Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh region have already left Congress and joined the saffron party. Some observers also look askance at the role of other stalwarts including Congress’ Sirsa MP Kumari Selja and Birender Singh who has returned to Congress along with his former MP son, Brijender Singh in the ensuing polls.
However, the Congress which seems to be going ahead with its campaign full throttle poses 15 questions to Haryana’s ruling BJP government which primarily pertain to the unemployment, inflation, worsening law and order situation, corruption and farmers’ protest.
The chief minister Nayab Saini, on the other hand, however, highlights how Congress had been reduced to a “baap-beta’’ (father-son – Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deepender) party by Hooda senior and how his (Hooda’s) rivals would teach him a lesson at an appropriate time.
The JJP, which had post-election alliance with the BJP in the government and its leader Dushyant Chautala had become deputy chief minister, has also already begun holding district level meetings where besides Dushyant, his father Ajay Chautala and other leaders have begun deliberations with the party supporters about the upcoming polls. The party leaders have also held district level programmes in a few districts of the state.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), on the other hand, has again joined hands with its former ally BSP and announced that while the former would fight on 53 seats, the BSP would contest the remaining 37 assembly seats in the assembly polls.
The alliance has also planned 10 back-to-back meetings at the parliamentary constituency till August 10 which would be held by INLD leader Abhay Chautala and BSP national convenor Akash Anand. The leaders held that while the people felt betrayed by BJP, the Congress was plagued by internal bickering, hence the people’s choice was INLD-BSP alliance.
