BJP to contest Haryana Assembly polls under CM Saini's leadership: Amit Shah

Panchkula (Haryana): With the ruling BJP in Haryana in a battle mode for the Assembly elections slated in October, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday chaired a brainstorming session of the party and announced that the BJP will go to the polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini.

BJP leaders said that two sessions were convened in Panchkula to review the party’s preparations for a 100-day roadmap to ensure that it retains power in the state for the third time on the trot.

The sessions saw the gathering of nearly 4,500 BJP workers in the presence of Chief Minister Saini, his Cabinet colleagues, Union Minister and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and the party's election co-incharge for Haryana, Biplab Kumar Deb, the former CM of Tripura.

With a focus on the strategy to intensify the party's campaign to strengthen its 'emotional bond' with the people, Amit Shah told the gathering to reach out to the masses by going to their doorsteps across all the 90 Assembly constituencies in the state.

The Home Minister urged the party workers to highlight the government’s policies and programmes to empower the common masses even in the far-flung villages, particularly those who were denied the benefits of different social welfare schemes by the previous governments.

“Amit Shah told the gathering that the main aim of the outreach programmes is to know about the problems being faced by the people and find solutions to them. He categorically said that the masses at the grassroots level should greet the ‘Panna Pramukhs’ as their family members, and not as party men,” a source told IANS.

Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta told the media that 50 workers from every Assembly constituency were invited to the meeting.

The new government in Haryana was formed in March this year after the BJP severed its four-and-a-half-year-old tie with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dhushyant Chautala, with Naib Singh Saini succeeding Manohar Lal Khattar as the Chief Minister.

The Assembly has a total strength of 90 legislators. However, after the death of Badshahpur legislator Rakesh Daultabad, the resignation of Power Minister Ranjit Singh, and the resignation of Mullana legislator Varun Chaudhary after his election from the Ambala Lok Sabha seat, the House has 87 MLAs now.

The BJP, which has 41 MLAs, enjoys the support of Haryana Lokhit Party’s (HLP) lone legislator Gopal Kanda, and Nayan Pal Rawat, an Independent legislator.

In the Opposition, the Congress has 29 legislators, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has 10, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has one legislator.

Three Independents have extended their support to the Congress, while another Independent MLA, Balraj Kundu, has been voicing his opposition to the BJP.