World | India
Ruling Congress party in Haryana ponders snap polls to retain power
Moves for an early election are gaining ground to beat anti-incumbency factor.
- By Ajay Jha Chief, Correspondent
- Published: 23:06 February 21, 2009
New Delhi: The ruling Congress party is mulling the option of going in for snap polls in the northern Indian state of Haryana.
Assembly elections in Haryana are due in normal course in February next year. The idea behind calling for early polls in the state, simultaneously with that of the Lok Sabha (lower house), is to beat the growing anti-incumbency factor and piggy ride to power on the popularity of the federal government.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hood has given his consent to the proposal mooted by the state unit of the party. The proposal is to come up for discussion before the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi soon. Incidentally, the Congress party is comfortably placed in the state.
Party insiders say that the Congress leadership is wary of rival Bharatiya Janata Party joining hands with the state's erstwhile ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) of the former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
Ever since the two parties came together, their stock is going up amongst the voters. "Together we will win a minimum of six Lok Sabha seats in the state," said INLD general secretary Ajay Singh Chautala.
The state intelligence agencies have reported to the provincial government that the voters' mood could swing in favour of the BJP-INLD combine during assembly polls in case the opposition wins more Lok Sabha seats compared to the ruling party.
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Political observers feel that the Hooda government's performance during the past four years at the most can be termed lacklustre. At the same time, the party is also unsure of the impact of the breakaway Haryana Janhit Congress will have on voters.
Former chief minister Bhajan Lal floated his own party after developing differences with Hooda and gave a jolt to the parent party by winning one seat and finishing close second in another when bye-elections were held for three seats last year.
"The best option for us is to call for early elections. This would not give Bhajan Lal enough time to spread his wings and at the same time we can catch the BJP-INLD on the wrong foot,," said a Haryana Congress leader, considered close to Hooda.
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