Gurgaon: The state of aaya rams and gayaa rams – the phrase it helped to contribute to the political lexion – has always been feudal. The Strong Man of the state rules with an iron hand, be it Bansi Lal or Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal or Om Prakash Chautala. But today, the 10-year rule of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is nearing its exit thanks to the Modi wave.
On the economic front, real estate boom is driving the state, but it benefits only a few real estate czars, leaving the majority high and dry. While many other states have bounced ahead, Haryana has lacked in power and infrastructure, and healthcare. And even at the best of times, law and order has been at its lowest ebb. So the ruling Congress has paid the price in the last Lok Sabha elections, winning only one out of the 10 seats in Parliament.
The state unit is upbeat that five persons with roots in Haryana are in the Union Cabinet:Â Â Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gujjar and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, besides Sushma Swaraj, Piyush Goyal and former Army chief Gen (retd) V K Singh.
And it is emboldened by its good showing in the recent Lok Sabha elections, which it hopes to repeat in the assembly polls by year-end. A mood of over-confidence is visible among party MLAs so much so that they want BJP to go it alone in the coming polls. Anil Vij and senior party leaders Ashwini Kumar Chopra `Minna’, Ashok Dhankar, and Capt Abhimanyu certainly support the view.
However, BJP state president Ram Bilas Sharma – a likely contender for the chief minister’s post in case of a BJP win – is in favour of alliance with HJC. “It is because of the alliance that we handed over such a humiliating defeat to Congress. However, the issue of alliance will be discussed at BJP’s Co-ordination Committee.â€
The polling percentage shows that BJP led in as many as 54 of the 79 assembly segments spread over eight Lok Sabha constituencies from where it contested. However, BJP needs mass leaders to manage a decent win. Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gujjar would, of course, play a major role in the campaign.
Unfazed by lacklustre performance, AAP announced it would contest all the seats. The party meeting was chaired by Yogendra Yadav. “AAP’s vote share in Haryana was nearly 4%, which is very encouraging for a rookie front like ours.â€
In the Congress camp, Birender Singh, CWC member and a known critic of Chief Minister Hooda, says only one constituency (Rohtak)  in the entire state was nurtured. Naturally, Congress tasted success only there while facing the rout in others. However, dismissing the Modi wave, Hooda said Congress would score a hat-trick.