BJP kicks off Haryana election campaign

The BJP formed a government in Haryana for the first time in 2014 by bagging 47 of the state’s 90 assembly seats. The party has set a target of winning at least 75 seats this time.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched its campaign for the upcoming Haryana assembly elections on Sunday, with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar accusing the state’s previous governments of ignoring people’s needs and indulging in corruption.

BJP formed a government in Haryana for the first time in 2014 by bagging 47 of the state’s 90 assembly seats. (Nitin Kanotra / Hindustan Times)

Addressing a rally in Kalka before beginning a 22-day Jan Ashirwad Yatra across the state, Khattar said: “Our policies are centred around the concept of welfare. The aim of the previous governments used to be something else… To realise this aim, they used to indulge in corruption.” Khattar is slated to conclude his march on September 8 in Rohtak, a stronghold of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to attend.

The BJP formed a government in Haryana for the first time in 2014 by bagging 47 of the state’s 90 assembly seats. The party has set a target of winning at least 75 seats this time. Khattar said: “There is no opposition to us. The Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and other opposition parties are fighting among themselves.”

A former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary, the CM said his political rivals dismissed him as an anari (novice) when he took over as the chief minister, but the same people were now calling him a khiladi (player). “I am neither of the two. I am just doing my work,” he said.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who flagged off the rally, said the CM had delivered on all grounds during his tenure. “After judging the work of his [Khattar’s] government, people have come to a conclusion that the Khattar regime has delivered on all fronts, he said.