Narendra Modi's earlier avtar helped win the Haryana elections

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role as Haryana's party in-charge for over five years from 1996 to 2001 stood him in great stead this election as he quickly re-connected with grassroot workers to and mobilized them within weeks.

BJP had well when Modi led from the front at the time, having won his party five Lok sabha seats in 1999 both in south Haryana and Jat belts. "We won Gurgaon, Faridabad, Karnal, Ambala and Sonepat when Modiji was state in-charge. At the time, he'd interacted with all grassroot leaders so it didn't take long to plan this time," said a RSS veteran from Gurgaon, who did not wish to be named.

The LS polls were Modi's last organizational assignment before he was sent to Gujarat. A senior Haryana government official told TOI that BJP loyalists, familiar with Modi from way before this election, voted against both Congress and O P Chautala's INLD).

Another factor that helped was the decision to not name any CM candidate, an issue that Congress party raised to target the party. BJP netas TOI spoke to said that eight contenders for the CM's post went all out to win the party as many seats possible in zones of influence. BJP did best in Ahirwal region dominated by Yadavs, where it bagged 13 of the 15 seats.

"The PM's decision to address one rally in each LS constituency also mobilized the workers. His appeal to vote for him worked. We got votes from all sections of the society," said Kunwar Surajpal, state party spokesperson.

BJP fared badly in Faridabad where it could win only three of the nine seats. It even lost Tigaon assembly segment represented by Union minister Krishan Pal Gurjar. The party failed to perform here, though Gurjar's victory margin was a sizeable 4.7 lakh votes in the last LS election.