Chandigarh: From having six legislators in year 2000 to two in 2005 and just four in 2009, BJP today created history in Haryana, winning 47 seats and riding to power on its own.
Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top leaders of the BJP, had aggressively campaigned in the run up to the Haryana Assembly polls, with “Mission 60 plus” being the catchline of its campaigning.
Not only this, the BJP has seen a massive rise in its vote share in the state as compared with elections in the past when its vote share was between 7.67 per cent in 1982 - when the BJP made an appearance in Haryana - to 10.08 per cent in 1987.
In the present election, the BJP saw a surge in its vote share to 33.2 per cent. It contested 90 seats and won 47. Restricted to playing second fiddle role, mainly to parties like INLD and the then Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party (now merged with Cong), BJP, contested the polls on all 90 seats on its own.
The BJP was buoyed by its performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in which the party won seven of the eight seats it contested taking a lead in the 52 Assembly segments. Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh while addressing a rally recently in Palwal district had asked BJP leaders from the state to revise the number of their “Mission 46 plus (majority needed to form govt in Haryana) to Mission 60 plus.”
The BJP's best ever electoral performance in Haryana, carved out as a separate state in 1966, so far had been winning 16 seats out of 20 contested by the party in 1987, when Devi Lal-led INLD had swept to power.
However, in 1991, the BJP again went down, managing to win just two seats. In 1996, BJP won 11 seats.
After former deputy chief minister Dr Mangal Sain, the BJP in Haryana, had failed to churn out leaders who would match his popularity and appeal.
Even in the 2014 Assembly polls, BJP did not declare anyone as its Chief Ministerial candidate and the polls were fought under collective leadership.
Before the Assembly polls, BJP ally HJC led by Kuldeep Bishnoi had separated accusing the saffron party of “repeated betrayal”.
To bolster its poll prospects, the BJP had covered all 90 Assembly segments by way of four Vijay Sankalp Yatras.
