Bhupinder Hooda: ‘Congress victory margins are huge in Haryana … We will form a government in October’

SET TO win five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana Saturday — a turnaround from 2019 when the BJP swept the state — former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, told The Indian Express that the results were an “indication” of where the wind will blow in the state’s Assembly polls scheduled for October. Excerpts:

The people of Haryana are fed up with this non-performing BJP government. We contested the polls on core issues like price rise, inflation and unemployment, while the BJP kept trying to woo the people on their fake promises. The writing was on the wall. People of Haryana were going to vote for change.

There was a wind of change in the Congress party’s favour. From 28% in 2019 to beyond 44%, we have had a significant increase in vote share.

The victory margins in the seats that we won are huge in comparison to the seats that we lost. We lost a few seats with very low margins. People had realised how the BJP had destroyed Haryana during its 10-year rule.

Today’s results are a clear-cut indication that the people of Haryana want a Congress government in the state. The BJP government in the state has been reduced to a minority (after ally Jannayak Janata Party left it) and it holds no moral right to continue governing. We have already sought the Governor’s intervention to dissolve this government and hold fresh elections in the state. The Congress is all set to form the government in Haryana with absolute majority in the coming Vidhan Sabha polls.

It is because of their own poor performance. All the 36 communities in Haryana have voted for the Congress and voted against the BJP. Congress party workers are full of enthusiasm and are waiting to form the