Lok Sabha results will not impact Vidhan Sabha outcome: Haryana Cong chief

Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar Friday asked party workers not to be disheartened by the results of the Lok Sabha elections and to fight collectively in the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

He said the factors which were at work in the Lok Sabha polls will not play a role in the Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana, which are due in October.

The party faced drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha polls. It failed to win any of the 10 seats in Haryana and even stalwarts like former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Ajay Singh Yadav, besides Tanwar and Deepender Singh Hooda had to taste defeat.

"Our workers need not be disheartened. It is time for our workers and leaders to collectively fight and win the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections," he told reporters here.

He said issues will be different in the Vidhan Sabha elections.

"These elections will be fought on what Khattar government has delivered on the ground. The promises they made to people five years ago remain unfulfilled, every section is unhappy with their rule and this will reflect in the assembly polls," he said.

Tanwar, who contested the LS polls from Sirsa, said the party may have failed to win any seat in the state, but its vote share increased from 22.9 per cent in 2014 to 28.42 per cent in 2019.

He blamed the BJP for "polarising the elections".

"The BJP politicised the sacrifices made by our armed forces," he alleged.

Backing party chief Rahul Gandhi, Tanwar said, "He gave a strong leadership. He fought for common manright from the streets to the Parliament... We want him to continue to guide us in future as well".

Tanwar said the party was analysing the results of the Lok Sabha polls and on June 4, Congress general secretary-incharge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad will hold a second meeting of the state unit in Delhi.

"On June 1, the Haryana unit has called a state level meeting in Karnal, in which we will seek feedback from workers, this will be followed by more meetings at other places in the state," he said.

Meanwhile, another opposition party Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which was launched six months ago following a vertical split in the INLD, on Friday said that it has started preparing for the Vidhan Sabha polls.

The JJP fought the LS polls on seven seats while its ally AAP contested three, but both the parties failed to win any seat.

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, who failed to retain his Hisar seat, said, "It was more like a presidential form of election like we see in the US. It became more of Modi versus the others".

He said his party may not have won any seat, but it managed to get a vote share of more than six per cent, which was almost three times than what the INLD got.

On the poll results, he said the party is analysing the results. "I will have a meeting with Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi soon," he said.

The JJP has convened a party meeting on June 9 where election results and strategy on the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls will be discussed, he said.