Hooda for early polls in Haryana

NEW DELHI: A drought-like situation notwithstanding, Haryana may go to the hustings ahead of scheduled date in March. Elections to the state assembly are likely to be held in October along with Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh, and possibly Jharkhand. A final view is likely to be taken by the state leadership during the course of the day-long deliberations on Friday in Chandigarh. AICC general secretaries Prithviraj Chavan and B K Hariprasad, part of AICC���s election team for the state, and Punjab party unit chief M S Kaypee will attend the meeting.

The party���s state unit is keen on early elections. The Haryana unit of Congress wants to capitalise on the Lok Sabha wave. The party had won nine of 10 parliamentary seats in the state. Congress also wants to cash in on the disarray in the opposition camp. The BJP-INLD alliance came cropper during the Lok Sabha elections. The other option before voters is Bhajan Lal���s Haryana Janhit Congress Party���s alliance with BSP. The electoral clout of this alliance is yet to be tested. Giving an already confident Congress a boost, the breakaway faction of HJC (BL), Samast Haryana Janhit Congress, led by two former ministers Subhash Batra and Krishnan Murti Hooda, joined the grand old party on Wednesday.

The Congress central leadership had been unsure about the efficacy of early polls though preparations are underway. Senior party leaders had expressed concern about the impact of deficient rains on the electoral outcome. But assurances from Haryana chief minister B S Hooda, that his administration would take steps to mitigate any risk of a backlash due to poor rains, may have served to assuage concerns of the central leadership. ���The state unit wants early elections, and we don���t have a problem with it,��� a senior Congress leader said.

To give Mr Hooda a helping hand, the Centre has also cleared many pending projects for the state. The Congress central leadership���s leaning towards early polls is determined by two other factors. First, Congress appears to be unsure about the party���s prospects in Jharkhand, and though it is strong in Maharashtra, it is concerned about possible anti-incumbency effect. ���We would like to insulate Haryana from any adverse impact of elections in these states,��� a senior leader said. The other factor is high food prices and probability of a below par rabi crop.