Eye on Haryana, BJP Takes Note of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Plans Blitzkrieg by Bigwigs to Target Chautala, Hooda

With Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra having triggered political frenzy when it crossed the state recently, the Haryana BJP too seems to have begun galvanising its cadre ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha, and more importantly, assembly polls.

What has spurred the top brass of the Haryana BJP is that not only did the yatra manage to draw a decent crowd, but also helped the factionalism-riddled Congress to pore over some of its bickering with involvement of all lobbies in the yatra.

The BJP is aiming to firmly trench up its cadre much before the election campaign sets in. The state unit has already chalked out plans to rope in big guns for stirring up the cadre. Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a rally in Panipat’s Gohana on Sunday. The party has planned out more such rallies in February to mark Ravidas Jayanti in Gurugram, Narwana and Yamuna Nagar.

While the Lok Sabha poll is due in May next year, the assembly election in Haryana is scheduled to be held before October 2024. “There is some time left but considering that we could face some sort of anti-incumbency, we need to be prepared and not take any chances. We have to be ready to offset anything that would come in the way of us returning to power,’’ said a senior party leader.

The state leaders said that the party has unleashed its Lok Sabha Pravas Yojna as part of which all the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies will witness hectic poll activities in the coming month. The BJP had, during the recently held meeting of top leaders in the national capital, decided to carry out the yojna in all the Lok Sabha constituencies across the country, with more focus on states which are going to polls in the coming months.

“In Haryana, the BJP leadership has selected Sirsa, Rohtak and Sonipat seats under the Lok Sabha Pravas Yojna,” BJP leader OP Dhankar added.

The Lok Sabha seat of Sirsa has long been the stronghold of Haryana’s Chautala family, of which Om Prakash Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was a former chief minister. Sonipat as well as Rohtak have traditionally been aligned towards the Congress and that’s why the party will be relentlessly working in this region considered to be the stronghold of former Congress CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda as well.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. In 2014, while Sirsa had gone to the INLD, Deepender Hooda of the Congress had won in Rohtak.

Party leaders said apart from BJP chief JP Nadda, Shah was also keeping a close watch on the party affairs in the state. Sources said he is believed to have instructed the state unit leaders to work towards strengthening the grassroots structure by roping in more `panna pramukhs’ ahead of the polls.

“In the next few days, we will be touching four lakh ‘panna pramukhs’ and during the next few months, verification will be done by calling them on their phones so that no worker provides fake names. From April 6, workshops for training the ‘panna pramukhs’ will begin,” Dhankar said.​

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