Watch Nidhi Razdan: BJP in trouble as Haryana heads to polls

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Transcript

00:00As the Haryana Assembly polls near, we are seeing an unprecedented rebellion in the BJP

00:08camp.

00:09Ever since the BJP announced its first list of candidates, it has seen a revolt from sitting

00:13legislators and even senior ministers who have quit the government in anger and some

00:19have threatened to contest either as independents or even cross over to the Congress party.

00:24This is unprecedented simply because in the BJP, we have seen in the last decade or so

00:29that there has been very strong inner party discipline and dissent out in the open is

00:34very very rare.

00:35And it shows you the kind of high stakes that are there in this particular election.

00:40The BJP is facing headwinds on many fronts in Haryana.

00:44One of course is anti-incumbency, it has ruled the state for some time now.

00:47And there's also very visible anger against the way the party handled the farmer agitation.

00:53So the Jat farmer anger in Haryana is quite high.

00:57And the wrestlers protest is another issue that has reverberated with people there.

01:01The wrestlers of course who had accused the BJP MP of sexual harassment come from Haryana.

01:07So the question is, what then is the position of the Congress?

01:11Now interestingly, while the Congress actually has the upper hand in this election, there

01:15is a possibility that they could mess this up.

01:18The Congress too is facing a lot of factionalism in Haryana.

01:22There's been a lot of inner party turmoil about the distribution of tickets.

01:26Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda got a list of candidates changed last minute by

01:32the Congress party because he wasn't happy with who had been given tickets and he was

01:36worried that those from his rival camp were being given an opportunity.

01:41So that kind of churning is also taking place in the Congress.

01:44The Congress has also failed to strike an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Haryana.

01:48Now many observers believe that may actually be a good thing for them because the AAP didn't

01:52do very well in Haryana both in the last state election as well as the recent Lok Sabha poll.

01:57But there is this inner party churning within the Congress which could to some extent hurt

02:03them in the state if they don't get their act together soon.

02:06Haryana is turning out to be quite a contest.