Rivals have a head start on Cong in Haryana,Haryana election news updates, Haryana political news, latest and political news 2014
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- Category: Haryana News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 21:03
Rivals have a head start on Cong in Haryana
The Haryana Congress screening committee had cleared its first list of 22 candidates almost simultaneously with the INLD’s first list of 57. But since then, the Congress list has been stuck with the leadership while the INLD has released a second list of 16 and its 73 candidates are already campaigning.
The BJP, meanwhile, has declared a first list of 43 candidates, who too have hit the trail. Haryana has 90 seats. The Congress leaders selected but not yet cleared are camping in Delhi rather than campaigning. They are worried that late efforts by a rival could block their way.
CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, bitter rivals, are also spending much of their time in Delhi to ensure their supporters are taken care of. At one meeting, Tanwar questioned Hooda’s efforts to give tickets to MLA whose names have come up in corruption cases, and about tickets being sought for ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries and MLAs who were caught in a sting that apparently showed them demanding money in lieu of change-of-land use certificates. The INLD released clippings purportedly showing 10 such leaders.
A number of other senior leaders have their own lists for approval. Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha and Revenue Minister Mahender Pratap want tickets for their sons. Irrigation Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav who is head of the election committee, wants his son Chiranjeev Yadav fielded in Ahirwal.
An exception is Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala. Selected for Kaithal, he is already camping in his constituency, except for one day every week when he has to go to Delhi to fill in as Congress spokesman.The delay in the list has also delayed the Congress manifesto, which is ready. The INLD, the Haryana Janhit Congress, the Haryana Lokhit Party of Gopal Kanda and the Jan Chetna Party of Venod Sharma have already released theirs.
Back to Brand Modi in both states
New Delhi: Its alliances struggling in both Haryana and Maharashtra, the BJP is likely to refrain from naming a CM candidate in either state and bank solely on the Narendra Modi image, party sources said. For Haryana, for instance, the party leadership has cleared taglines such as Haryana Ke Badle Halat, Chalo Chalein Modi ke Saath. In this state, in fact, where the BJP sees itself as strongly placed, it may eventually decide to contest on its own if an understanding with the Haryana Janhit Congress does not work out.
In Maharastra, the BJP is in a battle for dominance with Shiv Sena. Party leaders believe that voters in both states are likely to connect with Modi better than they would with any other leader. The absence of a high-profile BJP leader in either state is another reason why the party has placed all its faith solely in Modi’s image.
“It is only after the Lok Sabha elections that we realised how strong our chances to win these two state assemblies are. And our surveys suggest people are still identifying BJP with Modi,” said a senior party leader.