Chandigarh:

Resorting to a unique way to get connected with people at the grassroot and understand the voters’ mood, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday rode a bullock cart to reach a public meeting venue during campaigning at a village in Jind’s district.

“The son of a poor farmer knows how to run the government as well as drive a bullock cart,” Saini wrote on X while sharing the video of riding the bullock cart.

गरीब किसान के बेटे सरकार भी चलाणी जाणै सैं अर बलद बग्गी भी। pic.twitter.com/L7OdcDe5DP

— Nayab Saini (@NayabSainiBJP) August 28, 2024

With state BJP President Mohan Lal Badoli sitting next to him, the Chief Minister held the rope of oxen and rode the bullock cart along with two local women.

The security of the Chief Minister was accompanying him.

“The aim of the Chief Minister to ride a bullock cart was to understand issues and problems of the commoners. He discussed at length the programme and policies of the government with the two women who were sitting beside him,” a senior BJP leader told IANS, requesting anonymity.

During the electioneering, Saini, who is leading it by travelling far and wide across the state, is listing out measures taken by the BJP government to compensate the farmers, the Dalits and the poor.

Countered the Congress’ ‘Haryana Maange Hisab’ campaign, he accused the Opposition of spreading lies.

Just two months after the parliamentary elections, politics in BJP-ruled Haryana heated with the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the legislative polls in a single phase for 90 Assembly seats on October 1.

The Assembly election results will be declared on October 4.

Political observers say the ruling BJP, which is confident of its return to power with a majority for the third-consecutive term under the leadership of first-time Chief Minister and Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Saini, has been facing anti-incumbency and farmers’ anger.

The BJP’s main rival, the Congress, which ruled the state for a decade till 2014, has an edge over it with the support of farmers, traders and government employees.

Senior Congress leader and two-time chief minister Bhupinder Hooda is working hard to return to power amid the party’s internal ‘war of supremacy’.

Even the AAP has launched its campaign by targeting the BJP government over the issues of unemployment, law and order and the Agnipath scheme.

Contesting solo on all seats, the party launched the ‘Kejriwal Ki 5 Guarantee’ campaign, promising free electricity, free medical treatment, free education, Rs 1,000 per month to every woman and employment for the youth.

In October 2019, the BJP, which won 40 seats and was six short of a majority in the 90-member Assembly, formed the government in alliance with the then newly-formed Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala, who was Khattar’s deputy in the government.

Political observers told IANS that Saini’s elevation to the top post is intended to consolidate the non-Jat and OBC votes.

Also, it is an attempt to counter anti-incumbency against Manohar Lal Khattar, who had been at the helm from 2014 to March 2024.

In the caste politics of Haryana, the Jat support is largely divided among the Congress, JJP and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

Significantly, the Jats are a landowning community that accounts for around 25 per cent of the state’s population.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that the BJP will go solo in the Assembly elections under CM Saini’s leadership.

In Haryana, OBCs account for about 30 per cent of votes, followed by Jats 25 per cent and the Scheduled Castes (SCs) about 20 per cent.

In the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has won three Jat-dominated constituencies, (Rohtak by Deepender Hooda, Sonipat by Satpal Brahmchari and Hisar by Jai Prakash), where farmers largely played a crucial role in its victory.

The Congress has also won both the SC-reserved constituencies (Sirsa by Kumari Selja and Ambala by Varun Chaudhary).

The Congress is trying to woo the Jats and Dalits with Hooda as the tallest Jat leader and his loyalist Udai Bhan, the state Congress President, a Dalit.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)