Now is the time for BJP to prove its presence

CHANDIGARH: The coming Lok Sabha pollin Haryana is of special significance for the BJP in view of the fact that aftermany years the party is fighting this election on its own in the state and hasfielded candidates for all the ten parliamentary seats.It fought thelast Lok Sabha and assembly elections in alliance with the ruling IndianNational Lok Dal (INLD), led by chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, and hadmanaged to bag five Lok Sabha seats, its best tally till today. In the 1996assembly elections, it had tied up with the Haryana Vikas Party HVP), led byBansi Lal, and also joined its government after the elections. Later in 1998 LokSabha elections, it again joined hands with the HVP.And thefactors,which facilitated its showing at the hustings in 1999, were largely itsrole in the fall of the then Bansi Lal regime and Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee’s popularity in the backdrop of Kargil victory, and above all itsalliance with the INLD which is largely rural-based. Besides, the Congress inthe state was in a pretty bad shape, thanks to its support to the Bansi Lalregime in the assembly against the no-confidence motion and its rampantinfighting.People by and large were unhappy with Bansi Lal for hisgovernment’s failure to effectively implement prohibition in thestate.The political scenario in the state has undergone a seachange. It can no longer bank on the vote bank of the INLD as the two partieshave parted ways. Besides it cannot completely absolve itself of the acts ofomission and commission of the INLD government to which it supported for overfour years and the INLD was also an important constituent of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.At one stage the stateunit had become a laughing stock in the eyes of the people because on one handits central leadership was completely indifferent to its pleas for allowing itto snap ties with the INLD and on the other INLD supremo Chautala was making useof every opportunity to humiliate its local leadership.As such, thestakes are high for the BJP in this election. It is the right time for it toprove that it can make its presence felt at the hustings without aligning withany other party.Chief minister Chautala often taunts it saying thatit would know its real worth only in this election. As things stand today, ofcourse it is an uphill task for it for the simple reason that it is not findingit easy to make inroads into the strongholds of the Congress or the INLD whichare being considered as the majorcontestants.