CHANDIGARH: Despite facing huge anti-incumbency, protests by farmers and wrestlers, and discontent over the Agniveer scheme, the BJP defied all exit poll projections to achieve the unprecedented feat of a third consecutive term in Haryana. If political analysts are to be believed, the emphasis of the Congress on the Jat vote bank, which comprises almost 27 per cent of the state’s electorate, backfired. Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda pushed for the candidates of his choice but of the 28 sitting MLAs of the party whom he preferred, only 13 won.Talking to , Dr SS Chahar, former director of the Centre of Haryana Studies in Rohtak, says, “The micro management by the ruling BJP for each vote was up to the mark this time. Also, the RSS played a vital role as its volunteers met party workers and sorted out the differences. The migrant and floating vote went to the party. The saffron party focused their whole campaign on former CM Hooda and his son and the non-Jat vote bank consolidated in favour of the party as they targeted this vote bank, especially the SCs and OBCs, as the BJP government had announced many sops before the polls. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has also been accessible to the public.””On the other hand, the infighting and factionalism in the Congress and the failure of the party’s top leadership to curb it led to their downfall,” he says.The rivalry between Sirsa MP and SC face of the party Kumari Selja and former Chief Minister and Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda seems to have played a key role in the party’s loss.BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the infighting in the Congress, saying that senior SC leader Kumari Selja has been ‘sidelined’. The prospect of Hooda again becoming CM may have alienated non-Jat voters.Meanwhile, the BJP chose fresh faces to combat ten years of anti-incumbency and also focused on the OBC vote, which is around 38 per cent. Making Nayab Singh Saini, the state party chief, as Chief Minister in March this year replacing Manohar Lal Khattar who was CM for nine-and-a-half years did the trick for the saffron party.
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