Manohar Lal Khattar rose riding PM Modi wave, can he deliver Haryana for BJP?

CHANDIGARH: BJP, which came to power on its own in Haryana for the first time in 2014, is in an advantageous position in the state for the parliamentary polls on May 12. The reason has less to do with the work done in the past 4.5 years and more with the way the whole opposition is fragmented today. While the erstwhile main opposition party, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), is staring at an existential crisis because of the latest split in Chautala family, the Congress too is bogged down by infighting among top leaders.In the 2014 parliamentary elections, BJP had won seven of the state’s 10 seats only because of a strong Modi wave. Even parachuted candidates like Ashwini Chopra in Karnal and turncoats like Dharambir Singh in Bhiwani won. In the subsequent assembly elections in October 2014, the party again rode the Modi wave to score an victory in 2014, a surprising feat. For the first time, BJP formed the state government with full majority. It then chose Manohar Lal Khattar, a pracharak of Rashtriya Savyamsevak Sangh (RSS), as the chief minister.The BJP top brass has been maintaining that Khattar has performed well in the role and earned goodwill by seeking to curb corruption, especially in recruitment for government jobs, upgrading infrastructure and implementing welfare schemes. However, there are those too in the party who believe the BJP could do better with someone more comfortable with the requirements of electoral politics.For them, Khattar supporters now wave the results of subsequent polls in the state, especially the mayoral polls and Jind byelection as validation of the CM’s leadership.As the Jat community, which had dominated the state’s politics for a long period, has resentment against BJP because of the reservation row, Khattar has managed to align the non-Jats in the party’s favour. Many BJP claim that the non-Jat politics, for which former chief minister Bhajan Lal was known, has been taken over by Khattar.The results of direct mayoral polls in five cities and Jind byelection has also helped Khattar. The CM had also proved his political coming of age in March 2017 by quelling the voice of rebellion of 16 BJP MLAs who had joined hands after being “ignored by their own government”. Since then, BJP unit in Haryana has largely remained united.According to political pundits, Khattar’s leadership, fragmentation of opposition, and Modi’s popularity might help the saffron party win majority of seats in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. BJP’s biggest challenge is Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has served as chief minister in the state for two terms and has a strong influence on the state’s politics. Though several criminal cases have been registered against Hooda in recent years, he is still a crowd-puller.Another major challenge for the BJP is the Jat community, leaders of which are not happy and are feeling isolated after years of domination in the state’s politics. There is no strong, influential Jat leader in BJP except Captain Abhimanyu, but he too is facing criticism from a section of the community because of cases registered over his house being burnt during the February 2016 Jat stir for reservation. On the other hand, Abhimanyu has been claiming that the February 2016 violence was a conspiracy to destabilise the BJP government in the state.Other Jat leaders of BJP, including agriculture minister O P Dhankar and state BJP president Subhash Barala, aren’t as popular in the community as Hooda or INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala.