With the stakes being high in the?Haryana?Lok Sabha?elections, whose results will influence the state’s Assembly elections to be held in October, the?Congress?is betting big on its old warhorses?Bhupinder Singh?Hooda?and his son Deepinder Singh?Hooda?to stop the BJP juggernaut in the state.
While the former?Chief Minister?has been fielded from Sonipat, his son is in the fray for a fourth term from the Rohtak?Lok Sabha?seat.
But the question is will?Hooda?senior be able to do for the party what Amarinder Singh did for the?Congress?in?Punjab?in 2014?
The Congress, which had been out of power in?Punjab?since 2007, had, in a surprise move, announced Amarinder Singh’s name from?Amritsar?in the 2014?Lok Sabha?elections.
Amarinder Singh took up the challenge and not only delivered, but also handed the?Bharatiya Janata Party?(BJP) and its candidate Arun Jaitley, who is now the Union Finance Minister, a humiliating defeat by winning by a margin of over one lakh votes. This happened while the BJP was having a good run in all the other north Indian states.
Amarinder Singh’s Lok Sabha win boosted the Congress’ political fortunes in?Punjab?and paved the way for the party to sweep the February 2017 state Assembly polls.
The?Congress?is now pinning its hopes on a similar feat by the Hoodas to boost the fortunes of its faction-ridden?Haryana?unit.
IANS