In Haryana's Karnal, Congress plays 'youth' card against ex-CM and BJP veteran ML Khattar

Khattar and Budhiraja are both from the Punjabi community. The former chief minister is considered a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Karnal Lok Sabha constituency in Haryana is all set to witness a battle royale, but may end in a direct contest of youth versus experience, when the 10 seats in Haryana go to polls in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha election on May 25.

Because, among other candidates in fray for 2024 election in Karnal are former chief minister of Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee, Manohar Lal Khattar (70), and Divyanshu Budhiraja (31) of the Congress. With anti-incumbency, some controversies, certain resentment within ranks, all combining together, speculation was rife on a change of chief minister.

Such reports had been coming for some time, and with assembly elections expected in Haryana later this year, the BJP leadership reportedly decided to withdraw Khattar from state politics. Around that time, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) president Dushyant Singh Chautala resigned as deputy chief minister, snapping ties with the BJP. Meanwhile, three independent legislators also withdrew support to the state government.

The former chief minister has, however, iterated that the decision to replace him as chief minister was not a surprise decision from the top. He said that he had suggested this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than a year ago. He and his cabinet colleagues resigned on March 12, 2024, and Nayab Singh Saini was appointed the chief minister.

When in 2014, Khattar was nominated BJP's candidate from Karnal constituency, he was labelled an “outsider” and faced resistance from local party cadres. They sought the leadership to field a local candidate instead of him. However, he sailed through with a big margin (over 63,000 votes) thanks to the Modi wave. In 2019, the gap was more than 45,000 votes.

He went on to become the BJP's first chief minister of Haryana after his swearing-in ceremony on October 26, 2014. Khattar was sworn in as the chief minister for the second time on October 27, 2019, with an alliance with the JJP. With the change of guard in the state ahead of Lok Sabha – to be followed by assembly – elections, the BJP has also ended its four-and-half-year alliance with the JJP.

Incumbent chief minister Saini won from Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. He is the state BJP unit president, and is from the OBC community. He will be contesting from the assembly seat of Karnal now, vacated by his predecessor. The Congress has fielded state president of its youth wing Divyanshu Budhiraja against Khattar (Lok Sabha) and Tarlochan Singh against Saini (assembly seat).

Khattar and Budhiraja are both from the Punjabi community. The former chief minister is considered a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from their earlier days as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharaks.

There are stories about how Khattar would take Modi on a motorcycle during their earlier days in politics. According to some political analysts, the Prime Minister has not forgotten the hospitality extended by Khattar and he still stands beside him.

Meanwhile, Budhiraja is considered a surprise choice from among a clutch of veteran Congress leaders reportedly with the blessings of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Budhiraja began his political journey with the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) – the student wing of the Congress party in 2013 and was its state president between 2017-2021. He was later elected as the state president of the Youth Congress.

He was declared ‘proclaimed offender’ after he repeatedly failed to appear before court after a criminal case registered by the police in Panchkula under the Haryana Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1989. Fearing arrest, Budhiraja has moved the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the FIR.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, there were 19,04,193 electors in this constituency, of which 13,00,722, or 68.31% exercised their franchise. Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP defeated his closest contender Kuldip Sharma of the Congress by close to 6.6 lakh votes.

The first two elections in 1952 and 1957 went in favour of the Congress, with Bharatiya Jan Sangh registering a victory in 1962. Since then, the Congress has been dominating the constituency, except in 1977 and the subsequent bye-election next year, when it went to the Janata Party. The BJP annexed this seat first in 1996 and then the constituency almost alternated between it and the Congress. But it was the BJP which triumphed in the last two elections (2014 and 2019).

In 2024, BJP candidates are facing demonstrations by some farmer unions, who have a strong presence in Haryana. They hold the ruling party responsible for not revising minimum support price (MSP) of crops, arrest of peasants during the 16-month-long (2020-2021) agitation against the contentious farm laws which were withdrawn subsequently, among other grievances. Incidentally, the Union government has constituted a committee that is looking into farmers’ complaints.

Such and more issues and history are associated with the region. The city of Karnal itself is associated with the character of the great warrior Karna. It is now to be seen who emerges victorious in the modern-day political battle on June 4.