Having benefited from Jat consolidation catalysed by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is now making a strong outreach to the OBCs who have been given 25 tickets in the 90-member Haryana Assembly polls to be held on October 5.
The idea is to tap into the BJP’s declining support among the OBCs, which as per Lokniti-CSDS survey shrunk from 74 per cent to 44 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls. This brought down the BJP’s vote share from 58 per cent in 2019 to 46 per cent in 2024 LS polls.
Though the BJP changed Manohar Lal Khattar and brought an OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini as the Chief Minister close to the Lok Sabha elections, this has not stemmed the tide of anti-incumbency against the State government.
State Congress leaders stated that the party has given tickets to 27 Jat candidates and another 3 to Jat Sikhs to capitalise on their aspirations to have the next CM from their community — either Bhupender Singh Hooda or his MP son Deepender Singh Hooda. On the other hand, the BJP gave 16 tickets to Jats and one to a Jat Sikh.
The Congress has left the Bhiwani seat to the Communist Party of India which incidentally also fielded a Jat candidate, Om Prakash.
Hoodas, said Congress sources, also managed to get nearly 72 tickets to their loyalists in the Assembly polls which is said to have not gone down well with the party’s top Dalit leader Kumari Selja, who could manage just 4 seats for her close confidants.
The other party heavyweight Randeep Surjewala’s share in ticket distribution was down to two — including one to his son Aditya Surjewala from the Kaithal seat, Congress sources said.
The Congress believes that extra votes of the OBCs will be a swing factor over its core vote bank of Jats, Muslims and some sub-castes of Dalits in the 17 reserved Assembly seats, where the lead Opposition party had done well in the Lok Sabha elections largely due to the fear that the BJP will undo reservation.
It has also given 5 tickets to Muslims and 7 to Gurjars.
There are about 14 seats, on which OBC candidates from Congress and BJP are facing each other. For instance, in Rewari, BJP’s Lakshman Singh is pitted against Congress leader Captain Ajay Singh Yadav’s son Chiranjeev Rao and BJP’s Rao Narbir Singh is contesting against Vardhan Singh of the Congress in Gurugram’s Badhshahpur.
The BJP continues to place its bet on the OBCs plus forward caste combination in the polls, reflected in the State leadership. Besides CM Saini being an OBC, in July the BJP appointed a Brahmin, Mohan Lal Badoli, as the State party president.
A BJP regional leader stated that but for the anti-incumbency against them, the party is clear in its message that they are with the OBCs no matter what will happen at in the elections.
Interestingly, on the Julana Jat-dominated seat, the BJP has fielded an OBC, Capt Yogesh Bairagi, to fight out against wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who recently joined active politics.
The Olympian wrestler was at the forefront of agitation in Delhi against BJP leader and former president of Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Singh.
The BJP has given 11 tickets to Brahmins, in comparison to 5 by the Congress. Likewise, it has also given 11 seats to Punjabis, who have stood by them, against 7 by the Congress.
