As the BJP surged towards a historic victory in Haryana on Tuesday, one of its senior leaders, Anil Vij, faced a tough battle in his own constituency. Despite trailing, Vij remained upbeat and even broke into song during a media interaction.
In a cheerful mood over the BJP’s anticipated third consecutive term in the state, the former Haryana home minister sang the Mohammad Rafi hit from the 1961 Dev Anand film, “Mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya.”
At the time, Vij was behind Independent candidate Chitra Sarwara by 1,199 votes in the Ambala Cantt constituency.
Commenting on earlier celebrations by the Congress, which had briefly led in Haryana, Vij remarked, “Within the Congress, there are those who want (Bhupinder Singh) Hooda to lose, and they were the ones setting off the fireworks.”
The BJP is set to achieve its best-ever result in Haryana, while the Congress, after celebrating too soon, dropped to second place and seemed unlikely to regain momentum. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to win any seats, according to Election Commission data.
In a video shared online, Vij said, “We can see the people of Haryana teaching Congress a lesson. This morning, they (Congress) opened their ‘shop of lies’… There are people within Congress who want Hooda to lose.”
The Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections marked the first significant contest between the BJP and Congress since the earlier Lok Sabha elections, where despite an opposition revival, the BJP secured a third term. The outcome in Haryana will serve as a significant boost for the BJP ahead of key elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi.
