Haryana polls: Congress feels inside the circle ready to score; BJP searching for a goalie
The confidence level of the challenger team seems quite high while the defenders are still not sure who should guard the goalpost. The BJP wants to put up a tough defence, but is not sure about the goalkeeper.
Election-bound Haryana is known for its straightforward people ; they speak what they feel and the last thing they believe in is being 'diplomatic'. Like it or not they pour their heart out, but then those who know them don't mind this demeanour at all. For a Haryanavi, it is a personality plus !
Ground reports, for which credit goes to the local and well-grounded reporters in the state, suggest the following picture about the state of play , at this point of time when ticket distribution for the 90 -member Assembly is still underway amongst both the serious contenders - the defending BJP and the challenger Congress:
The confidence level of the challenger team seems quite high while the defenders are still not sure who should guard the goalpost. The BJP wants to put up a tough defence, but is not sure about the goalkeeper. Should it be Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini who was brought in just before the Lok Sabha elections to replace Manohar Lal Khattar who was fighting anti -incumbency, accompanied by mishandling of farmers' protest. Saini, a Khattar protege, could not combat the Congress in Parliamentary elections, yielding five out of 10 Lok Sabha seats to the main Opposition party.
Congress feels it is already inside the circle and about to strike for the goal, while Aam Aadmi Party having scant pockets of influence , wants Rahul Gandhi to believe it can give a penalty corner to the Congress. But it wants a price which the captain of Haryana team and a seasoned politician Bhupinder Singh Hooda is not willing to pay even to someone who has the potential to be a spoilsport . AAP could poll some anti-BJP votes, helping the ruling party in the process.
Which way the game could end then? Odds appear in favour of the challenger , provided Rahul Gandhi is able to infuse a much-needed team spirit. Whether it is Kumari Sailaja or Randeep Surajewala they are all waiting for an opportunity to flick the ball right into the BJP goal and walk away as the major scorers. But then, Hooda is the big daddy who cannot be offended. The match will surely have an interesting end.
What about BJP and its prospects of scoring a hat trick? Its problems are not only confined to its own anti-incumbency of 10 years but also of its coalition partner , Jannayak Janata Party of Dushyant Chautala, of the Chautala clan. The JJP appears to be in bad shape, though it was a king maker in the Khattar Government , bargaining no less than the post of Deputy Chief Minister with 10 Assembly seats. Winning even a couple of seats for JJP seems a far cry, as of now. It is counting on its alliance with Chandra Shekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and its influence on OBC votes. We still have more than three weeks to go for the polls.
Meanwhile, never mind its size- a terrific interest among the people of Haryana is palpable for elections on October 5 . Enthusiasm is so visible that it is hard to imagine how Haryanvis would cope up with waiting for results between the end of polling and counting of votes on October 8. One hopes the enthusiasm is reflected in the turnout from the total number of over 2.3 crore voters in the state, of which little over 95 lakh are women.
