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Deepender focusing on Kosli, Bahadurgarh

With campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections picking up pace, both Congress and BJP that are locked in a direct contest have shifted their focus to those Assembly seats of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency where their nominees had performed dismally in the 2014 General Elections.

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Ravinder Saini

With campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections picking up pace, both Congress and BJP that are locked in a direct contest have shifted their focus to those Assembly seats of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency where their nominees had performed dismally in the 2014 General Elections.

The Congress had fared poorly in Kosli and Bahadurgarh while it took a comfortable lead over the BJP in the remaining seven Assembly seats — Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, Rohtak, Badli, Meham, Kalanaur, Beri and Jhajjar — in the last Lok Sabha elections.   Congress nominee and sitting MP Deepender Hooda has intensified his campaign in the Kosli and Bahadurgarh Assembly constituencies while Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had addressed several poll meetings and attended tea programmes in support of BJP candidate Arvind Sharma in Meham and Rohtak early this week. 

Deepender could not canvass in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as he was bed-ridden following a spine problem and Congress MLAs had campaigned for him in their Assembly segments. The Congress then had MLAs in all nine Assembly seats of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency. Deepender had taken a massive lead of 63,893 votes over BJP candidate Om Prakash Dhankar in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, 33,328 votes in Kalanaur, 28,494  votes in Beri, 22,214 in Jhajjar, 11,008 votes in Badli and 7,447 votes in Rohtak. Besides, he took a lead of 23,073 votes over INLD candidate Shamsher Kharkara in the Meham Assembly segment. 

Similarly, Dhankar had taken a lead of 42,538 votes over Deepender in Kosli and 3,528 votes in the Bahadurgarh constituency. “Narendra Modi’s charisma and anti-incumbency against the Congress MLAs helped the BJP improve its performance in the 2014 elections considerably. In the Kosli, Bahadurgarh, Rohtak and Badli Assembly segments the Congress had to pay the price for anti-incumbency against its MLAs in the absence of Deepender Hooda's availability for campaigning," says a Congress leader. 

He says that though Deepender won the elections by a margin of 1.70 lakh votes even without canvassing, in the Assembly elections held later in 2014, the anti-incumbency factor hurt the Congress badly in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency. The BJP managed to wrest the Kosli, Bahadurgarh, Rohtak and Badli seats from the Congress. Now, these four Assembly segments are on the priority list of the Congress to regain its base.

"Deepender has so far visited Kosli five times, Bahadurgarh and Badli four times each while his mother Asha Hooda is canvassing for him in Rohtak for the past two months. She has so far attended tea programmes at the residences of more than 300 people, addressed a score of poll meetings and carried out door-to-door canvassing in Rohtak to woo voters,” he adds. 

Deepender Hooda says that the Rohtak parliamentary constituency has 750 villages, 156 of which fall in the Kosli segment. “I have covered all Kosli villages ever since the General Elections were declared. Villagers are extending me a warm welcome. They even remind me of the development works undertaken in Kosli by Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. I will do much better than the last elections in Kosli,” claims Deepender. He believes he will get a considerable lead over the BJP candidate in Bahadurgarh too. 

On the other hand, the BJP is also pulling out all the stops to improve its performance, especially in those constituencies that were affected by arson and violence during the Jat reservation agitation in February 2014. 

“As Rohtak and Jhajjar were the epicenter of the quota violence, the BJP has chalked out a special strategy to secure a massive lead over the Congress in Rohtak and improve its position in the Jhajjar Assembly segment, which had favoured the Hooda family in the last eight Lok Sabha elections, but this time the situation is different. The division of Jat and non-Jat votes in these segments is palpable and the BJP is hoping to take advantage of the situation,”  say the sources. 

They say that the recent interaction of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar with Rohtak residents, including businessmen, social activists and spiritual gurus during a series of ‘Chai par charcha’ was part of the strategy. 

“Some more visits by Manohar Lal Khattar to Rohtak in the coming days are also on the cards. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed rally in Rohtak on May 10 is a clear indication that the BJP is focusing on the Assembly constituency, which dealt a setback to the Hooda family as its loyalist and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Batra was defeated in the last state elections,” the sources add.  

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had finished third in Meham but this time, the party top leadership has instructed senior leaders Shamsher Kharkara and Balraj Kundu to ensure the party gets an impressive lead over the Congress in this Assembly constituency. As Chief Minister’s native Nidana village falls in Meham, he is also focusing on the Assembly constituency.   

Khattar addressed poll meetings in five villages of Meham this week and struck an emotional chord with voters by recalling his childhood days spent in Nidana and surrounding villages. “A discussion is under way for more tea programmes of the Chief Minister in other Assembly constituencies too, as these are proving to be instrumental in mustering the support of prominent people,” says a BJP leader. 

Cooperation Minister Manish Grover, who is the MLA from Rohtak, claims that the BJP is paying equal attention to all Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency and senior leaders are visiting every area to seek votes for Arvind Sharma.

“Tea programmes of the Chief Minister aims at connecting prominent people to the BJP and propagating the policies and other works done by the state government. Our candidate will take a lead in all Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary seat, as people have made up their mind to give Narendra Modi another chance to lead the nation,” says Grover. 

People want Modi as PM again

"Tea programmes of the Chief Minister aims at connecting prominent people to the BJP and propagating the policies and other works done by the state government. Our candidate will take a lead in all Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary seat, as people have made up their mind to give Narendra Modi another chance to lead the nation.Manish Grover, Cooperation Minister 

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