New Delhi: The ruling BJP is set to launch its assembly election campaign in Haryana as early as this month, although unofficially, and is aiming to win a two-thirds majority in the 90-member House with the slogan ‘Abki baar 75 paar’.

Party president and Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Rohtak on 21 June and participate in events to mark International Yoga Day. According to sources in the BJP, Rohtak has been chosen due to its association with the Hooda dynasty — former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son, three-time Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda who was decimated in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Shah, sources said, has decided to send a message to dynasts in Haryana through his participation in the Yoga day celebrations. He is expected to be joined by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

The BJP president has also set the state unit the target of winning 75 of the 90 assembly seats, after its unprecedented showing in the Lok Sabha polls where the party won all 10 seats in Haryana.

Shah had met a core group of the Haryana BJP unit Sunday, following which senior state functionaries held a meeting Tuesday to delegate tasks, outlined by the BJP president, to the local units.

The Haryana assembly elections are likely to be held in October.

Dera politics & Khattar’s image

Among other things, the Haryana BJP unit has been asked to tap into the dera voters. As part of this outreach, the state unit is expected to celebrate birthdays of Bhakti-era saints such as Kabir, whose jayanti falls on 17 June, with much fanfare.

Various deras, including the Gurmeet Ram Rahim-headed Dera Sacha Sauda and the Rampal-led Satlok Ashram, have a massive following in the state. Although both the self-styled godmen are in prison, the BJP is eyeing their followers by celebrating these festivals.

Party sources further said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the mainstay for the general election campaign, the party will also be banking on Khattar’s clean image for the state elections.

Triangular contest

The BJP believes that the assembly elections will be a triangular contest pitting it against the Congress and the alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

The ruling party is of the opinion that this three-way contest will play into its hands and help it improve its 2014 assembly tally of 49 seats.

The BJP has been shunning the Jats, the most powerful community in Haryana, by looking to consolidate the support of all the other castes. It has been fielding non-Jat candidates in elections, a strategy that paid dividends not only in the recent Lok Sabha elections but also bypolls and the assembly elections.

It is likely to continue with this strategy as there is a belief that the JJP-AAP alliance and the Congress will split the Jat votes.

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