After giving a neck-and-neck fight to the ruling BJP in Haryana in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress seems to be riding high in the state now. The state is slated for the Assembly polls in October this year, but the number of the Congress ticket aspirants has soared. Congress sources said the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has received 2,556 applications for its tickets for the state's 90 Assembly seats by the extended August 10 deadline it set for the purpose. In the Shahbad Assembly constituency in Kurukshetra district, the sitting Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLA Ram Karan Kala has sought a Congress ticket. Rajbir Singh Lala, the brother of three-time Bhiwani-Mahendragarh BJP MP Dharambir Singh, is said to be keen on contesting from the Tosham seat in Bhiwani district as a Congress candidate. If the BJP gives its ticket to Lala, he might get the backing of his brother’s supporters. Dharambir Singh was earlier with the Congress and was considered close to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Dharambir had switched to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Lala’s electoral innings also took off at around the same time. In the Assembly polls held in October 2014, he had thrown his hat in the ring from Tosham as an Independent candidate. He was up against Kiran Choudhry who was contesting on the Congress ticket. Choudhry had won the election by defeating Lala by about 20,000 votes. A senior Congress leader, Choudhry crossed over to the BJP in June this year. The 2014 contest in Tosham was closely watched because of the decades-old rivalry between Dharambir and former CM Bansi Lal’s family. The wife of Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh, Choudhry took the plunge into Haryana politics following the death of her husband in a chopper crash in 2005. Over the years, Dharambir defeated several members of the Bansi Lal family and reinforced his base in Tosham. In 1987, he had defeated Bansi Lal himself in the Assembly elections from the seat. In 2000, Dharambir defeated Surender from Tosham again. In 2014 and 2019, he defeated Surender and Chaudhry's daughter Shruti Choudhry from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat. This time too, Tosham is expected to witness a fierce contest. As regards the rising number of claimants for its tickets, the Congress wants to conduct a survey to get a feedback on the prevailing situation on the ground. Bhupinder Hooda said: “The number of ticket aspirants shows that there is a wave for the Congress in Haryana. People have made up their mind to form a Congress government in the state.” CM Nayab Singh Saini seems to be mainly banking on the BJP’s welfare schemes. “Our government is making new decisions to simplify people’s lives. In the past 10 years, our double-engine government has not only transformed India but also worked on transforming Haryana,” he said. The BJP leaders have also been flagging the infighting within the principal Opposition and referred to parallel yatras currently being held by Congress leaders Deepender Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja in different parts of the state. In the Lok Sabha polls, both the Congress and the BJP won five seats each in the state. While the Congress-led INDIA bloc then led in the 46 Assembly segments, the BJP candidates were ahead in the remaining 44 seats.
