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.