With infighting between state stalwarts intensifying in recent months, the Congress did not contest these polls on party symbol, but has claimed that the the 19 Independents who won were backed by it.(File)The BJP-JJP alliance’s big win in the Haryana municipal corporation polls — whose results were declared on Wednesday — will have no bearing on the upcoming Assembly polls, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Deepender Singh Hooda said on Thursday, while insisting that the Vidhan Sabha elections were very different from the civic polls.
The Assembly polls and Lok Sabha polls in Haryana are due in 2024.
Haryana’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) combine won 25 of the 46 municipal bodies in the municipal polls, with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Indian National Lok Dal bagging one seat each. With infighting between state stalwarts intensifying in recent months, the Congress did not contest these polls on party symbol, but has claimed that the the 19 Independents who won were backed by it.
In a statement released on Thursday, Deepender Hooda said, “The Congress was ruling the civic bodies when the 2014 Assembly polls took place. However, despite that, the Congress lost the Assembly polls. On the other hand, the BJP candidates have secured just 26 per cent votes in the civic body polls. In these circumstances, what will happen to them (BJP) can be understood very easily.”
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Deepender Hooda further said the people have been disillusioned with the BJP-JJP coalition government in Haryana. “This is the reason that many ministers sitting in the government, including the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, could not make the party candidates win in their constituencies despite putting in all their strength. In Karnal, the home district of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the BJP was defeated in three out of four municipalities, while the JJP candidate did not even appear in the contest in the Deputy Chief Minister’s constituency, Uchana. A few other ministers of the Haryana government also could not get the party candidates to win in their respective areas,”, said Deepender, who is the son of former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
He further claimed, “Out of the total 12.71 lakh votes polled in the Haryana civic polls, BJP got 3.33 lakh votes even when the Congress was not in the electoral fray. However, the Congress had given its workers a free hand to contest the elections. Independent candidates, most of whom were Congress workers, got 6.63 lakh votes and the BJP got only about half, about 3.33 lakh votes.”
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