This Sunday would witness a political outreach programme of three political parties in Haryana ahead of the civic body elections on June 19.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will address “Pragati Rally” in Sirsa, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal at Kurukshetra and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will organise his outreach programme “Vipaksh aap ke samaksh” in Fatehabad on the same day.
The rally, which has become AAP’s biggest political event in recent times, will show if the party is capable of mobilising people like they do in other states like neighbouring Punjab where it wrested power from Congress. Kejriwal will address the “Ab Badlega Haryana” rally, said Sushil Gupta, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state.
Meanwhile, the Sirsa unit of BJP, JJP and supporters of an Independent MLA and Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala is leaving no stone unturned to turn Khattar’s visit to the district on May 29 ahead of Panchayat elections — into a show of party’s strength in the district. Khattar, on his part, would highlight central and state governments’ initiatives for the common man since 2014. Besides, the rally would gear up the party cadre for the forthcoming municipal polls.
Talking to The Pioneer over the phone, Chautala on Friday said that the “Pragati Rally” in Sirsa on May 29 would be bigger than those being organised by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Fatehabad and Arvind Kejriwal at Kurukshetra. “I am expecting more than 60,000 people at the rally. He added that CM had recently announced projects worth Rs 368 crore in Sirsa. He claimed that rallies being organised by other parties including Congress in Fatehabad would not be successful because of factionalism. AAP is a new party and has no base in the State, he added
When contacted, Gupta, State AAP in-charge said that Kejriwal's public rally on May 29 Kurukshetra will prove to be a game changer in Haryana politics. He said it will be the beginning of the AAP’s surge in Haryana after its stupendous success in neighbouring Punjab. The AAP leader said people of the state are fed up with the misrule of the BJP-JJP government and they are looking for a change. As people have already rejected the Congress, AAP is the only viable alternative, he added.
“People want change. The change will start from Kurukshetra. Like Delhi, people of Haryana also want good hospitals, good schools, round-the-clock power, employment to youth. The Delhi model will come to Haryana too and we will form a government in the state after the next assembly polls,” he said.
Recently former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, who had left the party over two years ago, joined AAP.
Congress too got some state leaders to join the party after a reshuffle in the state unit with eight former MLAs joining the party. Senior Congress leader Hooda has been flagging various “acts of omission and commission” of the BJP-JJP government through his outreach programmes. With Hooda loyalist Uday Bhan being elevated as the HPCC chief recently, the Hooda faction is leaving no stone unturned to make Fatehabad programme a show of strength on a day when Kejriwal and Khattar are organising rallies in other parts of the state.
