Contesting the Haryana Assembly elections last year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had projected its chief Arvind Kejriwal’s Haryana roots in its campaign, calling him “Haryana ka lal”.

It is now the turn of the Haryana BJP brass to take the battle to the AAP’s bastion in Delhi.

The BJP has deputed 16 senior leaders from Haryana, including ministers and ex-ministers, to campaign for the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar are on top of this list in view of the significant chunk of Punjabi and OBC voters in the national capital.

A BJP leader said the Khattar-Saini duo would play a “major role” in the BJP’s Delhi campaign, especially after they ensured the “decimation” of the AAP in the Haryana polls, where the Congress was the BJP’s principal rival.

The AAP’s “Haryana ka lal” pitch – centred on Kejriwal being from Bhiwani district of the state – failed to deliver results in the Assembly polls as the party managed to garner only 1.76% votes with most of its 89 candidates forfeiting their deposits.

For the Delhi poll campaign, the BJP has asked its Haryana leaders to focus on the “achievements” of the Saini government besides underlining the BJP’s performance in the Haryana polls, where it secured victory for a record third consecutive term.

BJP sources told The Indian Express that Khattar, Saini, Haryana BJP chief Mohanlal Badoli and Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh would be assigned specific campaign duties for the Delhi polls. Serveral BJP leaders have been assigned various areas in Delhi for poll management.

Union Minister and Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gurjar has been given the responsibility of all 10 Assembly seats falling under the South Delhi parliamentary constituency, while Haryana Education Minister and Panipat Rural MLA Mahipal Dhanda has been given charge of West Delhi. Narwana MLA Krishan Bedi, Israna legislator Krishan Lal Panwar and former MP O P Yadav have been assigned Trilokpuri, Kondli and Badli respectively.

Other BJP leaders roped in for the party’s campaign in various Delhi seats include former Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta (Model Town), ex-ministers Kamal Gupta (Chandni Chowk), Banwari Lal (New Delhi), Manish Grover (Greater Kailash), J P Dalal (Bijwasan), and Kamlesh Dhanda (Palam). Former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal and ex-MLAs Bishamber Singh and Assem Goel have been assigned Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar and Karol Bagh, respectively.

The caste composition of Delhi’s electorate – which has a significant presence of Punjabis, Jats, Gujjars, Brahmins and Dalits – too seems to have played a part in the BJP’s pick of leaders from Haryana.

CM Saini belongs to the OBC Saini community while Khattar and Grover are Punjabis. Gurjar belongs to the Gujjar community, Badoli is a Brahmin while Goel, Kamal Gupta and Gian Chand Gupta are from the Baniya community. Dalal is a Jat, while Bishamber Singh belongs to the Valmiki (Dalit) community.

“A large number of people who are registered as voters in Delhi live in Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak and Jhajjar. Those working in Haryana are well aware of the BJP’s governance model in the state since 2014, and have friends and relatives in Delhi. The Haryana results will have an impact on the Delhi polls,” a senior BJP Haryana leader told The Indian Express.

BJP sources said its Haryana leaders have been told to focus on urban as well as rural areas during their campaigns besides the people living in slums. Some of them have already started their campaign and mounted their attacks on Kejriwal, with Haryana Transport and Energy Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday calling the former Delhi CM’s residence – dubbed “Sheesh Mahal” by the BJP – as “AAP’s graveyard”.

Saini, too, has stepped up his attacks on the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab for allegedly not addressing the concerns of the farmers protesting at Khanauri and Shambhu on the Punjab-Haryana border since February last year.

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