In poll season, all roads from Haryana lead to Rajasthan

Seven Rajasthan districts – Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Sikar, Jaipur, Alwar and Bharatpur – share borders with Haryana.

Sources said that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had reached out to Haryana Congress veteran Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and that the ex-CM will be visiting Rajasthan to campaign as part of the party’s poll strategy.

Former Haryana minister Kiran Choudhry of the Congress incidentally is already camping in Rajasthan. A sitting MLA from Haryana’s Bhiwani district, which borders Rajasthan, she was appointed the Congress coordinator for Rajasthan polls along with three others. Sources said that Choudhry, a known Hooda baiter incidentally, has interacted with potential candidates in at least 60 constituencies to prepare a report for the party high command, which will take the final call on candidates.

The Congress’s secretary in-charge of internal communications, Vineet Punia, who is from Haryana, said the party routinely sends workers to other states during elections. Claiming “a wave in favour of the Congress in Haryana”, Punia said: “The party’s return to power in Rajasthan will have an impact across the country as normally there is a regime change every five years.”

For its part, the BJP has 15 Haryana leaders camping in Rajasthan, responsible for different districts. An additional 50 leaders have reportedly been made available to the Rajasthan BJP now.

Haryana BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar has spent two days in Rajasthan holding meetings with party workers in nearly half a dozen constituencies. Now, with the election schedule announced, he is likely to spend most of his time in Rajasthan till voting day on November 23. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar is also likely to visit the state to address rallies.

Kuldeep Bishnoi, former Congress-turned-BJP leader in Haryana and dynast of the Bhajan Lal family, has been appointed the BJP’s co-incharge for Rajasthan for the polls. Former Prime Minister Devi Lal’s son and Haryana Cabinet minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent legislator supporting the BJP government, is also likely to be deputed to Rajasthan.

Haryana Congress leader Kiran Choudhry meeting party workers in Rajasthan. (Source: Congress)

Haryana BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said: “As the BJP is a national party, the workers from one state are sent to another state to share their experience. As nearly half a dozen districts of Haryana share the border with Rajasthan, we have a ‘roti beti ka rishta (family ties)’ with people of the neighbouring state.”

Rajasthan has considerable Jat and Bishnoi populations, whose presence is believed to be a factor behind the plans of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), led by Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, to contest about 30 seats in the neighbouring state. It is not clear whether there will be an alliance with the BJP, their partner in Haryana.

Several Haryana leaders also have family ties with politicians in Rajasthan. The BJP’s candidate for the Bhadra constituency, Sanjeev Beniwal, is former Haryana BJP MLA Sukhwinder Sheoran’s maternal uncle. Baba Balak Nath, the mahant of Rohtak’s Shri Baba Mastnath Math (Asthal Bohar), is a sitting BJP MP from Rajasthan’s Alwar Lok Sabha seat. He is now among several sitting BJP MPs who have been fielded for the Assembly polls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to visit the Asthal Bohar village to participate in a religious function on Wednesday.

Apart from playing a role in strategising for the polls, the Haryana leaders from the BJP and Congress are also expected to help pacify rebels who may pose a challenge to the parties’ official candidates in Rajasthan.