The Karnal Quandary of Congress party

Karnal Parliamentary constituency of Haryana is known for giving unexpected results in big elections. The city which is named after Mahabharata’s legendary figure Karan had given wounds to many veterans of haryana politics in the past.

 After much delay the Congress Party has released the list of its candidates, recently in haryana. Surprising many in the state, the Congress has declared the name of Divyanshu Budhriaja against ex-CM Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal. Budhiraja, who learned his early lessons of politics in NSUI, the student wing of Congress party, came as a surprise for people of Karnal who were expecting the name of Haryana NCP chief Maratha Virender Verma from the INDI Alliance. People on social media trolled the Haryana Congress for fielding Budhiraja from Karnal and blamed the Hooda family as B team of BJP for placing a inexperienced candidate in front of a veteran like Khattar. But who knows? Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also on similar crossroads over three decades ago. And, how the elections turned the fate around for him and his family is, history.

The Karnal LS constituency includes Neelokheri, Indri, Karnal, Gharaunda, Asandh, Panipat Gramin, Panipat city, Israna and Samalkha assemblies which takes the total to 9 assemblies. If we talk about the past, Karnal seat surprised the political pundits many times.

Ch. Bhajan Lal, who once got the label of Ph.D. in politics, was among one of the most successful politicians of Haryana. But, he faced a stunning defeat in 1999 Lok Sabha elections. Even BJP’s veteran leader Sushma Swaraj lost thrice in 1980, 1984 and 1989 from Karnal seat. While, surprisingly the four times winner from Karnal, Pandit Chiranji Lal lost his last election in 1996 from the Karnal seat.

Now, coming to the 2024 General elections, Congress has fielded Budhiraja from Karnal against the BJP veteran Manohar Lal Khattar. Budhiraja known for his close relationship with the Hooda family, specially Deepender Hooda is campaigning with all his might against Khattar and attacked his BJP counterpart saying he is a, “rejected CM”.

Budhiraja said, “Manohar Lal ji is very senior to me, but the central leadership of the BJP rejected 9.5 years of his tenure as Chief Minister and he was replaced overnight. By some means, they got a sense that if Khattar leads the state, they will be reduced to naught in Haryana. Thus, I believe that a rejected tag given to him by his party will not be liked by the voters of Karnal Lok Sabha,”.

If we talk about other parties, the Abhay Chautala led INLD have already declared its complete support to NCP chief Maratha Virender Verma, who will be fighting against both the BJP and congress. Congress with Budhiraja is expecting the repeat of Bhajan Lal debacle for Khattar but the ex-CM appears confident of his comfortable win from his turf. With less than 25 days remaining for the D-Day, it will be interesting to see how the people of 'Karan nagri', will decide the fate of the political players contesting for the coveted seat.