New Delhi:

Upping the ante against the Congress less than two hours before campaigning ended for the Haryana Assembly elections, which will be held in two days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the party stands for corruption, casteism, communalism and nepotism.

In a series of tweets on X on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi said that he has travelled across Haryana in the last few days and the people’s enthusiasm has given him confidence that they will elect the BJP for a third straight term and not accept the “divisive and negative” politics of the Congress.

Arguing that the BJP, which has been in power in the state since 2014, has worked towards making the lives of the people of Haryana prosperous and focused on the welfare of all sections, the PM pointed to the “failure” of Congress governments in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. 

“The people of Haryana know that the Congress means a guarantee of corruption, casteism, communalism and nepotism. The basic objective of the politics of father and son (‘bapu-bete ki rajneeti’) is only selfishness… Today, people are also seeing the failure of Congress governments from Himachal to Karnataka. The policies of the Congress destroy people and that is why the people of Haryana do not want the party at all,” he wrote in Hindi.

Taking aim at the alleged infighting within the Congress, the PM said this is happening at a time when it is in the opposition in the state and proves that the party can never give Haryana a stable government. 

He also took a dig at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi – without naming him – and said that Congress leaders have spoken about ending reservation. The jibe was seen as a reference to Mr Gandhi’s comments during a trip to the US last month, when he had said that the Congress would “think of ending reservation when India is a fair place”. The Congress leader later said the remarks were misunderstood and insisted that his party would take the quota limit beyond 50%.

Claiming that the Congress can never make India strong, PM Modi added, “Today the eyes of the whole world are on India. The world is looking towards India with a lot of hope and expectation. In such a situation it becomes very important that the people of Haryana elect a government that works towards strengthening India. Congress can never make the country strong. Therefore, I request my voters of Haryana to give their blessings to the BJP again.” 

‘Battle Between Hate And Love’

Addressing a rally in the state’s Nuh earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi said the battle in Haryana was between hatred and love.

“Hatred has to be ended. India is not a country of hatred, it is the country of ‘mohabbat’ (love). And you have shown this to the entire country,” said Mr Gandhi.

“The BJP and the RSS are hell-bent on attacking the Constitution… The fight is about this. If the Constitution does not remain, the poor will not have anything,” he added.

Polling will be held in all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana on Saturday and counting will take place on October 8.

The BJP denying a ticket to India’s richest woman, Savitri Jindal, who joined the party in March after quitting the Congress, came as a surprise to many and the two-time MLA from Hisar and former Haryana minister is now contesting as an Independent from the constituency. 

Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Saturday, the 74-year-old spoke about why she did not contest on a Congress ticket when the BJP decided to go with Haryana minister and sitting Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta, and also answered a question on whether she would support the BJP if she gets elected.

Ms Jindal said that her husband, OP Jindal, used to represent the Hisar constituency and she entered politics after he died. “I lost the Assembly elections in 2014 and chose not to contest in 2019, but my Hisar family insisted that I should be a candidate this time. I am contesting because they have asked me to.”

On her family’s old relationship with the Congress and whether her contesting as an Independent should be seen as a rebellion against the BJP, Ms Jindal, whose son Naveen Jindal is a BJP MP, said she had not rebelled and reiterated that she had respected the wishes of the people of Hisar. 

Asked why she did not contest on a ticket from the Congress when the BJP did not field her, she said, “They (the people of Hisar) wanted me to contest at any cost. Doctor sahab (Dr Kamal Gupta) is contesting from the BJP and the Congress has fielded Rara sahab (Ram Niwas Rara), so I had no choice but to contest as an Independent.”

Ms Jindal, who has been listed by Forbes India as the country’s richest woman with a net worth of $ 29.1 billion, insisted that her rival is neither the Congress nor the BJP and that she is running her own campaign.

To a question on talk that she is the B Team of the BJP and would support the party if she wins, Ms Jindal said, “No, I haven’t thought of anything. My Hisar family will decide, I am their representative.” 

She also remained non-committal on supporting either the Congress or the BJP if they needed her help to cobble together numbers after the election and said she would leave that decision to God’s will. 

Polling will be held in all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana on October 5 and counting will take place on October 8. 

Srinagar:
Voting in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is underway with ballots being cast in 24 of the state’s 90 constituencies.

Here are the top 10 points in this big story:

Chandigarh:

Having been granted bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, Delhi Chief Minister and Arvind Kejriwal will be released from jail again just ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana, which is being seen as a big boost for the AAP in a state where it is hoping to do well. 

The party erupted in joy after a Supreme Court granted him bail in the Delhi excise policy case on Friday, noting that his “prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty”, and the AAP Haryana handle posted a video of Mr Kejriwal with a fire emoji, writing: “He is back”. 

AAP’s Haryana unit chief Sushil Gupta said Mr Kejriwal would campaign in the state, adding that the people are looking for a change. “We will now fight the polls with double energy. Kejriwal ji will soon start his campaign in Haryana,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“People are looking for a ‘badlav’ (change), they want to elect an honest government, which can ensure good education and health facilities, round-the-clock power supply and overall development… People want to bring the AAP to power and we will win the polls,” Mr Gupta added.

Voting will be held in all of Haryana’s 90 Assembly constituencies on October 5 and the AAP released its sixth list of 19 candidates on Thursday, the last day for filing nominations. The party is contesting 89 seats after its talks of an alliance with INDIA partner Congress fell through. The AAP had sought to contest at least 10 seats as part of the alliance but the Congress was willing to give up only five to seven.

The state unit of the Congress had, in fact, reportedly been against a tie-up with the AAP but talks had been held at the insistence of senior leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who had said that it would prevent a division of votes and give the opposition its best chance of defeating the BJP.

The BJP has ruled in Haryana since 2014 but the opposition has been buoyed by its performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, where the state’s 10 seats were split evenly between the BJP and the Congress after a clean sweep by the BJP in 2019. Opposition parties are also hoping that they can capitalise on the discontent among farmers, who have been protesting seeking a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), anger over the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and the anger among athletes following the protest against former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by wrestlers last year. 

While the AAP had lost the lone Lok Sabha seat – Kurukshetra – it had contested by a margin of 29,000 votes, the party believes it can do well because it is in power in Delhi and Punjab, two states that border Haryana, where, its leaders claim, people are happy with its policies. 

Along these lines, campaigning in the Asandh Assembly constituency on Thursday, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha had made a “triple-engine” pitch for development.

“On one side of Haryana there’s Punjab which has an AAP government and on the other side there’s Delhi with an AAP government too. If the AAP government is formed in Haryana then a triple engine of development will run in the state,” he had said. 

“We listen on the radio, Mirchi sunne waale always khush (Those who listen to Mirchi are always happy). Similarly, Kejriwal ko chunne wala always khush (Those who choose Kejriwal are always happy),” the MP had added. 
 

Chandigarh:

Releasing its third and biggest list for the Haryana Assembly so far, the Congress has named candidates for 40 of the state’s 90 Assembly constituencies. The list includes Aditya Surjewala, who is the son of Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala, as well as two people who had filed their nomination from the constituencies they wanted to represent even before their names were announced by the party. 

With the third list released on Wednesday, the party has named candidates for 81 seats in all, leaving a question mark only on nine remaining seats. The announcement came on a day when the BJP released its final list of three candidates for the polls. 

Aditya Surjewala has been fielded from the Kaithal Assembly constituency, from where his father and Congress General Secretary has been elected an MLA at least twice. 

From the Palwal constituency, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s in-law Karan Dalal has been given a ticket and so has Vikas Saharan, son of party MP Jai Parkash, from the Kalayat Assembly constituency. Both of these leaders had filed their nominations before their names were announced by the Congress. 

From the Kosali Assembly constituency, the party has denied a ticket to Rao Yaduvender Singh, brother of BJP’s Gurgaon MP and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, and fielded Jagdish Yadav instead. Rao Yaduvender Singh had contested from the constituency in 2019 and lost by a margin of over 38,000 votes. 

In the third list, five women have got tickets – Pearl Chaudhary from Pataudi, Anita Yadav from Ateli, Sumita Virk from Karnal, Pooja Chaudhary from Mulana and Parag Sharma from Ballabgarh. Pooja Chaudhary is the wife of Varun Choudhary, who won from Mulana in 2019 and was elected the MP from Ambala in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. 

Chander Mohan, the elder son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal and a former deputy minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, has got the ticket from Panchkula. Sombir Singh, the son-in-law of another former chief minister, Chaudhary Bansi Lal, has been fielded from the Badhra seat.

Voting for all 90 seats in Haryana will take place on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8. The BJP is hoping to retain its hold on power in the Hindi heartland state, which it has ruled since 2014, but is facing a challenge from a resurgent Congress.

What has made the contest more interesting is the fact that the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats were split evenly between the Congress and the BJP this year after the BJP’s clean sweep in the 2014 general elections. 

Carved out as a separate constituency only in 2009, the Ladwa Assembly seat in Haryana has all eyes on it ahead of the Assembly polls in the state because the BJP has fielded Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from there and he is seen to be facing a tough contest from sitting MLA and Congress leader Mewa Singh.

With the BJP eyeing a third consecutive victory in the Hindi heartland state and declaring Mr Saini, who took over as chief minister from Manohar Lal Khattar in March, as its chief ministerial face, NDTV visited the Ladwa constituency and spoke to people there, as well as both candidates, to get a feel of which party has the edge there.

A voter in the constituency, Sanjiv Sahni, said the main issues are inflation, unemployment and a bypass that was promised.

“The BJP has had a government here for 10 years. Before coming to power, they made many promises, including that a bypass would be built and 2 crore people would get employment. But it didn’t happen,” he said. 

Another voter said Mr Saini was an MP from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency, of which the Ladwa segment is a part, but his presence had not been felt. 

Disagreeing with the others, a voter said it is important to elect a strong leader and Mr Saini could be that person, while another emphasised the need of having someone from the ruling party as the MLA to ensure that work gets done. 

‘Will Form Government Again’

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Saini said, “I am getting a lot of love and support from the people of Ladwa. I am convinced that the BJP will get a big mandate and will form the government for the third time. We are giving cylinders at Rs 500 and have bought every last grain from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP).”

His opponent from Ladwa, Mewa Singh, claimed that people are angry at the BJP and the Congress will form a government in Haryana. 

“I won from Ladwa last time, faced a challenge and won with a margin of over 12,500 votes. In these five years, I have worked hard for the constituency and have got support from many communities, so I don’t see the upcoming polls as a challenge… The bypass is a major issue here, but that hasn’t been built. People will ask these questions of Mr Saini. People in the state want Bhupinder Singh Hooda to be the chief minister,” he said. 

Numbers Game

Political experts said Mr Saini, who had won a bypoll from Mr Khattar’s former seat of Karnal by defeating Congress’ Tarlochan Singh with a margin of over 41,000 votes in June, has been fielded from the Ladwa constituency because it has a high population of voters from the Other Backward Communities (OBCs), particularly the Saini community. 

The fact that the BJP’s Naveen Jindal won from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency, of which the Ladwa segment is a part, by a margin of over 29,000 votes is also likely to have played a part in the decision. 

OBC’s make up 40.09% of the population in the constituency with the Saini community alone accounting for 18.92%. Among non-OBC communities, Jats are a sizeable part of the population, making up 15.84%. The constituency has 1.95 lakh voters.

The constituency was carved out from the Thanesar Assembly segment in 2009 and no party has won it twice. 

Haryana will vote on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8.

Chandigarh:

The rebellion in the Haryana BJP sparked by leaders being denied tickets for the upcoming elections intensified on Saturday with a former minister joining the ranks of those who have quit the party.

Former Haryana minister Bachan Singh Arya was hoping for a ticket from the Safidon Assembly constituency but the BJP decided to field Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) rebel Ram Kumar Gautam, who had joined the party earlier this month. The JJP was a BJP ally until Nayab Singh Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the Haryana chief minister in March this year. 

The BJP had released its first list of 67 candidates on Wednesday and Mr Arya, who had lost from the Safidon Assembly constituency by a margin of about 3,500 votes in 2019, had posted a couplet on social media the next day, in which he spoke of injustice and hinted at a rebellion

“Laga do aag pani mein, shararat ho to aisi ho. Mita do hasti julmo ki, bagawat ho to aise ho. (Set fire to water, if there is mischief, let it be like this. Erase the existence of injustice, if there is a rebellion, let it be like this),” the former minister had posted. 

On Saturday, Mr Arya announced he was quitting the BJP in a terse four-line letter, stating that he was resigning from the primary membership of the party and the state executive.

Mr Arya’s resignation follows the exit of two Haryana ministers – Energy Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Justice Bishamber Singh Valmiki – and MLA Lakshman Napa, who were denied tickets. Key OBC leader Karan Dev Kamboj also resigned from all posts in the BJP for the same reason.

While Mr Chautala announced that he would contest as an Independent, Mr Napa said he would join the Congress.

The loss of Mr Chautala, 79, can hurt the party as he is the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal, one of Haryana’s tallest leaders, who served as chief minister twice and was also a deputy prime minister.

“I am Chaudhary Devi Lal’s son. I have some stature… I have decided to contest as an Independent,” Mr Chautala had said on Thursday.

Some of the leaders also alleged that loyalists were not being valued by the BJP.

“Perhaps the BJP does not need loyalists anymore,” Mr Kamboj had said, adding that the party was rewarding leaders who had joined recently while ignoring those who had served it for years. 

‘No Scope For Change’

Amid the rebellion, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said on Friday that speculation over changing candidates should end as there was no scope for doing so.  “Everyone wants a ticket, but the ‘lotus’ (BJP’s symbol) can be given to only one person… It is natural for ticket-seekers to get angry. But they will be persuaded,” he said.

The BJP, which has ruled Haryana since 2014, faces a stiffer challenge this time because it lost five of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress this year after sweeping all of them in 2019. The protests by farmers – who are seeking a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) – last year’s agitation by wrestlers, and concerns over the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the Army are seen as posing challenges to the party in the state. 

Congress Jolted Too

The Congress, which got a boost after inducting wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia into the party on Friday, also got a jolt on Saturday – just a day after releasing its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana polls. Senior leader Rajesh Joon resigned from the Congress and decided to contest as an Independent candidate after being denied a ticket from Bahadurgarh, where the party decided to retain sitting MLA Rajinder Singh Joon. 

“The Congress leadership cheated me. I was promised a ticket but the promise was not kept. I will become an MLA by polling double the number of votes that the Congress candidate gets,” Mr Joon said. 

In the Baroda Assembly constituency, Congress leader Kapoor Singh Narwal said he was promised a ticket by Mr Hooda, but it was given to Induraj Singh Narwal.

“They have cheated the people of the constituency, not me. I will take a call on contesting as an Independent tomorrow (Sunday),” Kapoor Singh Narwal said, even as sources close to him indicated he could leave the party.

Chandigarh:

The rebellion and discontent faced by the BJP after it released its list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls have now come to haunt the Congress, with a senior leader resigning and announcing that he will contest as an Independent a day after the party unveiled its first list.

The Congress’ first list of 32 names included former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, new entrant Vinesh Phogat from Julana and state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. Sitting MLA Rajinder Singh Joon was renominated from Bahadurgarh, prompting a rerun of a rebellion that the constituency had seen in 2019 as well.

Senior leader Rajesh Joon met his supporters and announced that he had resigned from all posts in the Congress and would be contesting from the seat as an Independent. 

“The Congress leadership cheated me. I was promised a ticket but the promise was not kept. I will become an MLA by polling double the number of votes that the Congress candidate gets,” Mr Joon said. 

Rajesh Joon and another Congress leader had also rebelled against the party after Rajinder Singh Joon was given the ticket in 2019. They had submitted their nominations from the Bahadurgarh Assembly constituency and had withdrawn them only after Bhupinder Singh Hooda had intervened. 

Buoyed after winning 5 of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress will hope that the discontent in the party does not hurt its chances of dislodging the BJP from a Hindi heartland state it has ruled since 2014. The party’s central leadership has also faced pushback after senior leader Rahul Gandhi pushed for a tie-up with the AAP to avoid the division of votes. 

While an in-principle agreement regarding an alliance had been announced on Wednesday, there appears to be a stalemate, with the AAP seeking 10 seats and the Congress willing to give up only five to seven. 

BJP’s Troubles

The BJP has also had to face dissent from its leaders after it released its first list of 67 names on Wednesday.  Energy Minister Ranjit Chautala and MLA Lakshman Napa quit the party after being denied tickets. While Mr Chautala has said he will contest as an Independent, Mr Napa announced that he will join the Congress.

Mr Chautala is the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal Chaudhary, one of Haryana’s tallest leaders, who served as chief minister twice and was also a deputy prime minister.

BJP MLA Shashi Ranjan Parmar had also burst into tears after his name had not featured on the list. 

Voting will take place in all 90 seats in Haryana on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8.

Jammu:

Reiterating that statehood will be restored in Jammu and Kashmir. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said ahead of the Assembly elections that “no power” can talk of autonomy there. 

The Home Minister also took aim at opposition parties, accusing the Congress, National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP of looting the erstwhile state and asking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi not to mislead the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing BJP workers in Jammu’s Palauru on Saturday, Mr Shah referred to the removal of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and said the upcoming election was historic because it would be the first time that voters in J&K would be casting their ballots not under two flags but under one Tricolour and under one Constitution. 

“They (opposition parties) say they want to talk to Pakistan. Let me tell you, until there is peace, there will be no talks with Pakistan… Three families – Congress, the National Conference’s Abdullah family and PDP’s Mufti family – want to take Jammu and Kashmir back to the age of corruption. They say they will bring back the old arrangement… They speak of bringing back autonomy, let me state categorically that no power can talk of autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir,” the minister said in Hindi. 

Pointing out that Rahul Gandhi and the National Conference had promised the restoration of statehood – Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two Union Territories, including Ladakh, when Article 370 was abrogated in 2019- Mr Shah said, “I want to ask Rahul baba and Abdullah sahab, how will you restore statehood? Stop misleading the people of Jammu and Kashmir… this can only be done by the Union government and PM Modi.”

“I have already said that Jammu and Kashmir will get statehood at an appropriate time after the elections. I have said this in Parliament. They are asking for something that we have already given, have you seen anything like this before,” he asked.

Accusing previous governments of turning a blind eye to terrorism, Mr Shah said that, in the 10 years under PM Modi, the BJP has worked to reduce terrorism by 70% and also taken on terrorists. He cited the success of the Amarnath yatra and the reopening of theatres as proof of this and said terrorism will make a comeback if Congress and the National Conference, which are contesting the elections in an alliance, return to power in J&K.

In Jammu and Kashmir for a two-day visit, Mr Shah had unveiled the party’s manifesto on Friday and said Article 370 was “history” and would never come back. The Union Territory will vote in three phases between September 18 and October 1. Counting will take place on October 8. 

Unveiling the manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah has ruled out the restoration of Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state, and said the provision has now “become history”. 

The restoration of Article 370, which was abrogated in 2019, has been promised in the manifesto released by the National Conference, which is contesting the elections in an alliance with the Congress. The Assembly polls will be the first since 2014 and are also being keenly watched to gauge how the people of Jammu and Kashmir feel about the removal of the provision.