Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
Senior Congress leader and Ambala
MLA Venod Sharma is set to join the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress
(HJC) and contest the Lok Sabha election from Karnal.
Top sources said that Sharma, a
close confidante and trouble shooter of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda for long, will open his cards in his rally called Jan Chetna at
Kurukshetra on March 9. He is expected to announce his complete detachment from
the Congress and join the HJC, which is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) in the State.
The Jan Chetna rally would also
spell trouble for the Hooda Government in the State which is surviving on a
wafer thin majority. The rally is being keenly watched as Sharma could throw in
some surprises and more Congress MLAs could also switch their loyalty.
"This rally has the potential to break the backbone of the Hooda
Government," a senior HJC leader said.
Both the HJC and the BJP thrashed
out their seat-sharing arrangement over two years ago and the Bishnoi-led party
will contest two seats while the BJP would contest the remaining eight in the
State having 10 parliamentary constituencies. Bishnoi himself would contest
from Hissar while Sharma would contest from Karnal where Brahmins have a
decisive say in the outcome. For Assembly polls later this year, both the
parties are scheduled to contest on 45 seats each as per the seat-sharing
arrangement.
Sharma's expected move to join
the HJC is being considered nothing short of a political coup in Haryana
politics ahead of the Lok Sabha polls as he is an astute politician and would
provide muscle to his new party. Bishnoi has been huffing and puffing all alone
in the run-up to the polls and Sharma is expected to bring in much-needed
experience and strategy to take on the Congress and the Indian National Lok
Dal.
Earlier, there was speculation
that Sharma, a former Union Minister and also a Cabinet Minister in Haryana,
could join the BJP. He himself did not deny the reports but made sure that his
displeasure against the Congress is known. Sharma, did not attend the Budget
Session of the Haryana Assembly, did not attend the general body meeting of the
Congress Executive in the State and earlier resigned from the state Election
Campaign Committee of which he was the chairman.
Sources said joining the HJC
would give greater maneuverability to the political plans of Sharma than the
BJP. As an alliance partner, the HJC can reap all the benefits if there is a
regime change in New Delhi and the
NDA comes to power while retaining separate identity as a member of a smaller
regional party. Moreover, as Assembly elections are a little over six months
away in Haryana, Sharma would get a major say in ticket selection exercise in
the new alliance of HJC-BJP when the present Congress dispensation is down and
out.
Sharma deserting the sinking ship
of the Haryana Congress ahead of the polls is likely to severely dent the
prospects of the party in a State from where it won nine seats in the last
election. Being a Brahmin face of the party, the community, already feeling
marginalised, is likely to desert the Congress strengthening the non-Jat
combination of HJC-BJP. Chaudhary Bhajan Lal successfully led the non-Jat
communities of the State for a long time and now his son Bishnoi along with
Sharma with the support of the BJP would woo this section with a renewed zeal.
As the dominant Jats are divided between their loyalty to the INLD led by Om
Prakash Chautala and the Congress led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, emergence of a
non-Jat political formation could reap rich electoral dividends in the State
both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. (March 6, 2014)
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