Ex-CM Khattar Vs Debutant Budhiraja: Will Karnal See A Swing? All Eyes On This Battle Of Panipat

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during her roadshow in Haryana on May 23, 2024.

Source : X/@INCIndia

Last morning wouldn’t have been any different to the inhabitants of Panipat from any other day in recent weeks. Drenched joggers at parks, the hustle-and-bustle of the school-going children, the gradually soaring mercury, and spinning mills setting into action as the siren goes off at 9. 

By mid-morning though, the bypass leading to Anaj Mandi (grain market) in the city began to witness a massive swelling of crowds. And more people in crisp kurta-pajamas were being bussed in, even as the heat seemed to become unbearable with each passing minute.

When Priyanka Gandhi Vadra began to finally make her way into the venue, there was a massive frenzy of sorts with slogans rending the air. The speech, lasting some 35 minutes, saw the animated crowd nodding in approval and engaging with her words throughout. 

Vadra was campaigning for Divyansu Budhiraja, the 30-year-old Congress novice pitted against the 70-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Manohar Lal Khattar, who stepped down months ago as CM barely months ago. It didn’t go unnoticed that Vadra drew the biggest applause when she brought up the plight of Agniveers. 

“The youth of Haryana are daredevils who never shy away from risking their lives at the frontiers, but it’s sad when sacrificing your life in the service to the motherland doesn’t bestow you with martyrdom as in the case of Agniveers,” Vadra thundered, on the controversial Agneepath scheme that envisages enlisting youth for armed forces services for a four-year term.

If at all one wishes to see a palpable swing in the people’s mood this time around compared to 2019, it is this moment. Both Khattar and Budhiraja are battling it out in the Karnal seat encompassing Panipat. And a massive swing it will necessitate — for the BJP had won the seat with a record margin of over 6.5 lakh, second-highest for the 2019 Lok Sabha election across the country.

With a difference of 50 percentage points, it requires a gigantic 25 per cent swing — but most people on the ground do not rule it out. In fact, they actively bet on such an outcome. And that makes Haryana one of the crucial swing states of 2024. 

And that’s not the catch. Whenever such a massive swing takes place in Haryana, it becomes almost a wave, leaving the loser with almost nothing. Take 2004 and 2009, when the Congress won all but one seat; 2014, when the BJP won all but one it contested; and 2019, when the BJP swept all ten. 

But Manohar Lal Khattar is leaving nothing to chance. 

The former CM has been actively engaged in door-to-door campaigning, indicating how seriously he has approached the election — after he seemed to initially write off his young opponent.

Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar at a party rally in Panipat | Photo: Facebook

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Khattar Being Khattar

As soon as Priyanka Vadra left Panipat Thursday afternoon, Khattar had reached the BJP’s new office on GT Road, with a roadshow scheduled to begin shortly. And by the time Khattar emerged from the office, the stretch had turned saffron. 

After paying obeisance at the gurdwara next to the office, Khattar’s roadshow began to make way, with the age-old Devi Mandir as the destination point. 

The crowds that turned up were nowhere close to the numbers in Vadra’s programme. And Khattar was back in the BJP district headquarters by quarter past five, to address the team of reporters assembled there.

Is there a tinge of nervousness in Khattar’s demeanour? A fellow journalist at the press conference wondered. 

Maybe Khattar was just being Khattar — it is easy to confuse Khattar’s diffidence with anxiety. 

For those who have observed the mannerisms of the CM – plucked from relative obscurity in 2014 – Khattar has always evoked a sense of edginess.

But then, he has lately also made news for less than charitable remarks against a woman sarpanch. The bumbling persona seems to be a thing of the past, and he has been a bit more self-assured in recent times. 

Khattar was not in a hostile mood though, replying to questions calmly and carefully.

“When I was given the mantle of chief ministership in 2014, a lot of people wrote me off instantly. Modi Ji gave me confidence that whatever I didn’t know, the bureaucrats shall guide me with…what they couldn’t teach, the janta (people) have, and if there is anything left to learn, I shall learn it from you people (journalists)”, Khattar said, as he wound up the presser invoking laughs.

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Will It Be A Close Call? 

Khattar has been concentrating more in the nine segments outside of the Karnal assembly constituency (that he has been representing since 2014), according to local BJP leaders. This is seen as part of a strategy to maximise his potential, although many voters I spoke to in Karnal city weren’t all that enthused either.

“What has Khattar delivered for Karnal apart from these wall paintings?” A respondent shot back, pointing to the murals on the walls of the flyovers in the city. 

And unlike the urban voters in his assembly segment, Khattar has to bear with the massive anger existing in the rural segments of the Lok Sabha constituency.

There has been farmer unrest, especially since the renewed farmer protests in February, when the protesters were not allowed to proceed towards Delhi. 

The failure of the BJP to fulfil its promise of doubling the farm income as per the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations is also a talking point. 

And so is Agnipath and the state of joblessness. 

And then, there is the issue of the self-respect of women wrestlers.

To sum up, the Congress believes it is in with a good chance to win Karnal this time around, while the BJP reckons that the lead it secured in 2019 would be hard to bridge. 

But the tell-tale signs of anti-incumbency are all too visible on the ground, and it might actually be too close to call. 

The three battles of Panipat are hardwired into our brain from childhood. And this contest between a two-term CM and an upstart challenger promises to be not less than a battle.

The author is a senior journalist and political columnist.

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