Rohtak: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a political party, not a ‘bhajan mandi’, and rebellion shows leaders are desperate to get the BJP ticket to score a win in the Haryana assembly polls, said Satish Poonia, the party in-charge in Haryana.

The BJP’s candidate list for the Haryana assembly polls next month has sparked a rebellion within the party ranks, with several heavyweight leaders, who did not get tickets, quitting the party to fight as Independents or on other party tickets.

Asked about the chances of the party with newcomer Chief Minister Nayab Saini facing off against veteran leader and two-time CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda who led the Congress charge during the LS polls, Poonia said, “Not every film of Amitabh Bachchan is a hit. Even Nana Patekar’s films can become a hit. Democracy has seen a transformation. The era of legacy politics is gone. Now, leaders emerge from ‘vote ki peti’ and, on that front, Nayab Saini has stronger credentials.”

Recalling the LS polls, Satish Poonia said the BJP checked a Congress surge that everyone expected, which has set the party on course to winning the upcoming assembly elections. “There was a different ‘mahaul (environment)’ in the entire country, and the discussions in Haryana were that the Congress would make a clean swipe in the state. We, however, stopped the Congress at a five-seat gain. There are two ways of looking at it — if you look at the glass, it can be seen as half empty, but another way of viewing it is that it’s half full,” he said.

“Our lead was on 44 assembly segments despite a difficult challenge. Now, we are confident of returning to form a government, and our confidence stems from our organisation and the work done over the last ten years in Haryana,” he added.

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‘Lesser time to perform for Nayab Saini’

Ahead of the Haryana assembly polls, Satish Poonia defended the performance of the last BJP government in the state.

Asked whether the anger of farmers over their unmet demands for minimum support price for crops and debt waivers, wrestlers over the government’s response to their complaints of sexual harassment by the ex-Wrestling Federation of India chief, and youth over the Agnipath scheme will dent the BJP’s prospects in the state, he said, “A few things are momentous, and a few things are sponsored, too. People forget many things, too.”

“For agriculture, the government has budgeted Rs 1,52,000 crore. In many districts of Haryana, farmers have availed of Rs 500 crore claims on crop insurance. Farmers are benefitting from the Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. The prime minister’s double-engine government has fulfilled its promises to the people in the state,” he said.

On the speculation that if Nayab Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar earlier, the BJP would have been in a better position for the assembly polls, Satish Poonia said many schemes were pending implementation and that due to the delayed move, the new CM “got a lesser time” to perform.

“In politics, there must be some purpose for change. Manohar Lal ji ran the government successfully, without any allegations of the government running on ‘parchhi (slips)’ as in Hooda’s times. The people benefitted from many of his schemes, and if those schemes had been implemented timely, we would have benefitted more. But, there was a delay,” he said.

“Nayab Saini got a lesser time to perform (than he would have if he replaced Khattar earlier), and the election date was announced suddenly. The party, however, will benefit from Khattar’s experience and Nayab Saini’s energy in the election. Change is part of the system, and it is the prerogative of the high command. There is nothing wrong in change; there was no politics behind change,” he said.

Defending Khattar’s family identity card scheme, which has led to the loss of ration card benefits for many families and aggravated anger against the BJP in the state, Satish Poonia said, “The intention was not bad, and the scheme was good — many people got benefits, too. However, it’s true, there were some problems in the implementation. If we come to power the third time, we will implement the scheme as envisaged initially.”

On the party extending support to Haryana Lokhit Party’s (HLP’s) Gopal Kanda in Sirsa, Poonia said, “It was first decided that the BJP would fight the seat as the local BJP unit was pushing up for it. But later, it was decided that the party will support whoever will defeat the Congress.”

Last week, the BJP candidate from the Sirsa assembly seat, Rohtash Jangra, withdrew his nomination, which former minister Gopal Kanda is contesting as a candidate of his party, HLP. BJP state president Mohan Lal Badoli has been evasive about supporting Kanda. However, Poonia said the BJP is now supporting the HLP chairman.

Also Read: As Haryana plunges into poll cycle, 5 obstacles in ruling BJP’s road to re-election

‘Congress promises are like Chinese toys’

Discussing internal rebellion over ticket distribution, Satish Poonia said, “It shows that the BJP ticket has much more traction…. We have reached out to the rebels — the situation is now much better. There is more rebellion in Congress than in BJP. We, as a political party, take rebellion in good spirits. We are a political party, not a ‘bhajan mandi’, where such a thing will not occur. Those who left will realise in the future that the BJP is the only party that accommodates everyone.”

With 36 Congress and 33 BJP rebels filing nominations as Independents or on tickets from smaller parties ahead of the Haryana assembly polls, the two major political parties are in big trouble. The BJP has deputed Khattar to convince the rebels to withdraw from the race, and Hooda is doing the same for the Congress.

Senior BJP leaders such as former cabinet minister Karan Dev Kamboj and former deputy speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Santosh Yadav are among those who have revolted and quit the BJP. Other rebels such as BJP’s Bikram Thekedar, Randhir Singh Kapriwas, and Banwari Lal haven’t left the party nor announced support for the party’s candidates.

One of the most prominent rebels is Savitri Jindal, the BJP’s Kurukshetra MP and Naveen Jindal’s mother. She is now contesting as an Independent from Hisar against BJP’s candidate Kamal Gupta. Her once-opponent, the Zee group’s Subhas Chandra, who hails from Hisar, has also thrown his weight behind Savitri Jindal this time. He had campaigned against Savitri Jindal in 2014 but following differences with the central government, he could create foes for the BJP in Hisar.

Sharing his views on Congress promising houses to jobs in its manifesto, Poonia said that the guarantees are like Chinese toys, which can break at any time. “Not only in Haryana, the Congress never fulfilled its promises, from Karnataka to Himachal, where the government has no money to pay salaries. The Congress is notorious for making such  promises.”

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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