Amitabh Shukla /
Politics in Haryana would never be the same again after the newly formed alliance between Haryana Janhit Congress and the BJP romped home in Hisar bypolls creating a third front in the bipolar politics of the state.
This was the first election after the alliance was formed just before the polls and their long term association has got a formal approval at the most awaited test in state politics. Defeat of the Congress, though on expected lines, has created fissures in the state unit and dissidence is expected to increase in days to come. More so, when it is more than a defeat and is actually a rout as the party failed to get even 1/6th of the polled votes and lost its security deposit.
For the INLD, there is neither any gain nor any major loss in the outcome. The party lost by a slender margin but managed to get almost two lakh votes more than its principal enemy in state politics – Congress. INLD supporters have not lost hope and some enthusiastic supporters say that the next Assembly polls could be a toss between the INLD and the HJC-BJP and Congress would be the third party in the state like the results in Hisar have indicated.
HJC-BJP candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi retained the seat which fell vacant due to the death of his father and would now move to the Lok Sabha giving another seat to the NDA and the confidence to do well in the next general elections to be held in 2014.
During campaign, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj had said that BJP had tied up with INLD earlier and it was rejected by the people as it was not considered credible. She said that BJP then contested alone but that too was rejected by the people as it was not considered strong enough. “This alliance is credible as well as strong,” she said during campaigning, adding that Hisar election was not a normal election and had the potential to determine Haryana and national politics.
In the arrangement which has been thrashed out between HJC and BJP, they would contest 45 seats each in the assembly and in Lok Sabha polls, BJP would contest 8 while the HJC would contest 2 seats. A viable option in the Jat-centric politics of the state would take shape now with this alliance which has got cemented with the victory. “People have accepted the alliance and given it their blessing. It has a great future and potential to form the next government in the state,” state BJP in-charge Harsh Vardhan said after the victory.
The implication of defeat for the Congress could be manifold, both at the state level and also at the national level. The party which won only 40 of the 90 seats in the last assembly polls and could form the government only after it weaned away five MLAs of Bishnoi’s party, faces a considerably strengthened opposition in the state now.
Moreover, detractors of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda like AICC general secretary Birender Singh and Union Minister Selja would be further emboldened. They just marked a token presence in the polls and did not campaign much unlike Hooda who camped here for a fortnight even though his chosen candidate Jai Prakash lost by a huge margin. Also, anti-incumbency is now apparent in the state where Congress has been in power for almost seven years now. Hooda will be on guard now and would have to explain the reasons why the party lost to the high command despite a high pitch campaign.
As Team Anna treated the election as a referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill and asked to vote against the Congress, top leadership of the party would now have to determine what kind of impact his appeal can have on the coming elections. It would also have to take a call whether to heed to the call of the anti-graft septuagenarian to bring a Jan Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament or face an erosion of its vote base in a series of Assembly elections early next year.
In less than four months from now, Assembly elections in
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