year, would also help see which way the wind will blow in the Assembly elections due in early 2010.

The ruling Congress, which won nine out of 10 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections, is keen to improve its tally. However, it is the main opposition party, the Indian National Lok Dal, for which the elections are very crucial. Undone by anti-incumbency votes and routed in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls last time, the INLD is desperate to make a comeback. That explains why it has decided to join hands with the BJP again, though their last alliance collapsed soon after the two grabbed power in the 2000 Assembly elections.

Realising its mistakes, the INLD, led by former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, has since been trying to make amends with the electorate, attacking the Congress Government on all policies it feels are ‘anti-people’. The party has been holding impressive rallies, and if the huge crowds are any indication, it clearly has an edge over others. The party put up a good show of strength on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late Devi Lal at Bhiwani this year and Ambala the year before. However, crowds do not always translate into votes.

As for the second player in the alliance, the BJP had to eat humble pie in the 2004 Lok Sabha and the 2005 Assembly polls after it broke away from the INLD. It won just one Lok Sabha seat and two Assembly seats, puncturing the party’s claims of coming to power in the state on its own.

The BSP too is keen to make a mark in Haryana politics. It has already announced its intention not to have any poll pact for the Lok Sabha polls. The party has also declared names of candidates for five of the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state.

As for the Congress, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been announcing welfare schemes for the underprivileged at regular intervals. While he has struck a good rapport with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he faces some rivalry from Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh, who nurses ambitions of becoming the chief minister.

However, Hooda has succeeded in getting the better of his arch rival, former chief minister Bhajan Lal and his rebel son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, who went on to launch his own party — the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). The HJC had reportedly been trying to forge an alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls, but its attempts came to naught with the BJP-INLD tie up being finalised on Sunday. The party now plans to contest the elections alone.