Assembly elections are going on in two states and Rahul Gandhi first went to America and then went to Himachal Pradesh, where his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were holidaying. Imagine, Rahul went for a holiday in the middle of elections! Before that he had gone to Karnal in Haryana, where he met the family of a youth living in America. His message must have gone well in the elections but it is not known why Rahul Gandhi is hesitant to campaign in the traditional way. He made only one visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The second phase of voting is to be held there on Wednesday, with which the elections for 50 seats will be over. He has not held any election rally in Haryana either. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had campaigned a lot in the Lok Sabha elections but it is not known why she has been asked to sit at home. There are elections in Jharkhand in November and even the leaders hardly remember when Rahul had last visited Jharkhand. Probably he had passed through Jharkhand once during the second phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Meanwhile, there is news that despite all the negative things and anti-incumbency in Haryana, BJP’s position is improving. Although Congress is still leading, BJP is moving ahead very fast. Journalists who were thinking BJP to be stuck at 15 seats till 10 days ago are now thinking that BJP can win 25 or more seats. Journalists roaming in Haryana or who know Congress closely have started saying that the situation like Madhya Pradesh may happen. There too Kamal Nath was contesting the election assuming that he has to take oath as the Chief Minister. But Congress was badly defeated there. Similarly, in Haryana, Bhupendra Singh Hooda is contesting the election assuming that he has to take oath as the Chief Minister after the election. But there is neither very intense campaigning nor the leaders of the Gandhi family are interested. Even Mallikarjun Kharge is not showing any interest.
At least Kharge should have camped in Haryana because all politics is now based on Dalit votes. Congress’s Dalit leader Kumari Shailaja got angry and stayed at home and did not go out for campaigning for a week. She stayed at home after a leader close to Hooda used casteist words. But if she was not going out then Kharge should have gone. There is a lot of goodwill towards Kharge in the Dalit community and it is from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh to Haryana. But Kharge did not go. On the other hand, Mayawati’s nephew Akash Anand held a rally and he attacked the Congress by calling it anti-Dalit. On one side is Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD, which is fighting in alliance with BSP and on the other side is Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party, which is fighting in alliance with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party. Two Jat and two Dalit parties are fighting by forming separate alliances. Congress also has the same alliance. Their alliance is working in the areas under Chautala family’s influence, on the other hand Congress leaders are slowly losing their initial lead due to overconfidence.