2024 Election Result: Early trends had given Congress a comfortable lead.
New Delhi:
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has put on a brave face despite seeing wavering and tilting trends in favor of the BJP after giving the Congress a comfortable lead. He has said that his party will form a government in Haryana.
Speaking to reporters around 10.15 am, when the BJP was leading in Haryana with 48 seats – three more than the halfway point – Mr Hooda stressed that the Congress would get a majority on its own. When asked this question repeatedly, Mr Hooda maintained his stance but his body language seemed to give him away.
The generally optimistic Congress leader seemed very neutral, even a bit dejected, when asked about trends showing that the BJP was in charge. “The Congress will form a government in the state. Only two or three rounds of counting have been completed. The reports we are getting say that the Congress will have a majority,” he said in Hindi.
Mr. Hooda emphasized that Congress does not need the support of any party to form the government, and when the same question was asked more than once, he appeared to snap and say, “I have already said it, how many times do you want that I say the question? same?” He admitted that there is intense contestation in some seats but emphasized that these will not stop the Congress from coming to power in Haryana.
To a question on who would become the chief minister given the fairly open tussle between him and senior leader Kumari Selja, Mr Hooda said the party would decide and gave credit for the 'victory' to the people of Haryana, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and other senior leaders.
Celebrations Break
The Congress headquarters in New Delhi also saw the mood change in the space of a few hours. After exit polls predicted a clear, comfortable victory for the Congress, celebrations began at the party headquarters in New Delhi before the counting of votes began on Tuesday morning. These celebrations gained momentum after initial trends pointed to the same outcome. They were muted when the BJP started winning seats and took the halfway lead.
If the lead is maintained, a loss in Haryana will be a major setback for the Congress, which had talked of a revival after winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP was seen battling the establishment and the wrath of farmers, sportspersons and armed forces aspirants, and experts are already saying that the Congress has managed to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”.