Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed to power in Haryana on
Sunday, winning the state for the first time alone since it was formed in 1966.
The party that had never won more than five seats contesting on its own has a
tally of 47 in the 90-member House. Its strength in the outgoing Assembly was
four.
The Congress was reduced to 15
seats from 40, with only four of its 13 ministers managing to win. Outgoing
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was among the winners.
An even bigger blow was dealt
to the INLD, which ended with 19 seats, thwarting supremo Om Prakash Chautala’s
hopes of taking oath as CM from inside Tihar jail. Among the big losers on
Sunday was Chautala’s grandson Dushyant, though two other family members won.
The question before the BJP
now is who to name the chief minister — a Jat or a non-Jat, from among the over
half-a-dozen contenders. The party had not named any CM candidate before the
polls.
The front-runners for CM from
among the Jats are former national spokesman Abhimanyu and Kisan Morcha chief
Om Prakash Dhankar. The non-Jats whose names are in circulation are former
state party in-charge Manohar Lal Khattar, state president Ram Bilas Sharma,
Union ministers of state Inderjit Singh and Krishnapal Gujar, and Anil Vij.
While the non-Jats,
particularly in urban areas, appear to have voted for the BJP in large numbers,
the party may not want to offend the Jats, who make up 21 per cent of the
votes, the single-largest chunk, in the state. The BJP had fielded 27 Jat
candidates and taken in former Congress veteran Birender Singh to boost its
support among the community.
The Congress paid a price in
Haryana for anti-incumbency, charges of corruption and dubious land deals,
infighting, nepotism and lopsided development. Conceding defeat, Hooda said he
hoped the BJP continue the “momentum of growth” of his 10-year regime. “It is
democracy. Last time, the people of the state gave us their mandate, and this
time to the BJP.”
Mukesh Bhardwaj & Pradeep
Kaushal
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