Hooda gears up for polls,but new trucks on the road

After the Congress romped home with nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana,there was little doubt that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda....

After the Congress romped home with nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana,there was little doubt that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would want to take advantage of the win and prepone the Assembly elections due in March next year. The speculation has now given way to virtual confirmation with the state government already in poll mode.

At numerous public and party meetings,Hooda has been asking people to gear up for the Assembly elections and has announced a slew of sops for different sections of society,including farmers,traders,students and women. Obviously,his hands will be tied when elections are officially announced and the model code of conduct is enforced.

Besides pandering to various sections of voters like the Sikhs by announcing a date for a separate SGPC after the Assembly elections are over Hooda has struck a body blow to the already decimated opposition parties. His prize catch is former finance minister Sampat Singh,who is considered one of the top Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders,next only to Om Prakash Chautala. Hooda was also able to rope in some other senior INLD leaders,as well as some from Kuldeep Bishnois Haryana Janhit Party (HJP).

There is little doubt that the Opposition parties in Haryana are in a state of disarray. The INLD is now mainly a triumvirate,with Chautala heading the party and his two sons controlling it. The party had drawn a blank with its alliance partner,the BJP,in the LS polls. While there are serious differences among both party cadres over the issue,given the understanding between Chautala and BJP leader L K Advani,the two parties are expected to jointly contest the Assembly elections.

But the alliance between the HJP and the BSP may prove to be a tougher rival for the Congress. The HJP had registered the lone victory apart from the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections,with former chief minister Bhajan Lal scraping through from Hisar. Though the party could only win one seat,it was able to garner about 10 per cent of the votes. These two factors have enabled the party to get recognition from the Election Commission. While Mayawatis party drew a blank,it bagged a little over 15 per cent of votes. The two together can expect to corner a few seats in the Assembly polls.

In the 2005 Assembly elections,the Congress had bagged 67 seats out of 90,while the INLD and the BJP which had contested separately were able to secure nine and two seats respectively. The BSP and NCP had secured one seat each,while Independents took 10. But the partnership of the BSP with HJP and the INLD with BJP may make a difference in some constituencies.

Even otherwise,the ruling party cannot afford to rest on its oars. For one,the two alliances can only do better after the Lok Sabha washout. Secondly,the issues during the Assembly elections are bound to be different local rather than national.

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Nonetheless,the Hooda government has done reasonably well during its five-year regime and anti-incumbency is not at a high. But the Congress cannot afford to be complacent. For instance,one of the major factors that went against the then ruling INLD in the previous Assembly elections was the poor law and order situation and the goonda raj of lower-level party cadres. While the Hooda government has done much better on this front,it has not been able to take a stand on the laws being enforced by Khaps or village panchayats,particularly in matters of inter-caste or inter-gotra marriages. The lynching of a youth last month is a recent example of the government turning a blind eye to the excesses of the powerful Khaps,which are also solid vote banks.

The police force,too,has come under criticism,with several instances of complaints being ignored by senior officers. Two extreme examples are of alleged rape victims Sarita and Alka,who at separate times committed suicide outside the offices of the DIG and an IG respectively because they were not granted an audience. The police have also been largely ineffective in tackling the spate of thefts and looting,including on the national highways. The only saving grace is that the law and order situation is better than it was under the previous regime.

Another criticism that the ruling party could face is the lack of progress it was able to make in the crucial power sector. The state continues to reel under long power cuts. Some projects got delayed and the government has drawn up plans to become a power-surplus state in the next three years but the ground reality is not very encouraging.

The party,however,is ready with its publicity blitz and is in a hurry to announce several other projects before the EC announces enforcement of the model code of conduct. Meanwhile,it would perhaps be prudent for the Congress to remember that it led in only 57 Assembly segments during the recent Lok Sabha election against its tally of 67 seats in the 2005 Assembly elections.