Ramkishan Sharma of Kanwari village claims to be a "kattar Bhajpa", a diehard BJP supporter.

In his Jat-dominated village in Hisar district of Haryana, Sharma happens to be one of the few dozen Brahmin residents who have suddenly been filled with hope.

"Till a week ago, there was a surge in favour of the Congress, and the BJP looked a clear loser. But things seem to have changed. The BJP is back in contention," Sharma, 73, said, with one of his sons and a grandson nodding in agreement by his side.

Sharma said the reason for this was a change in the attitude and behaviour of Jats across the state.

"Confident that a Jat (Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda) is set to become chief minister, the Jats have started resorting to hooliganism. Their behaviour is scaring other communities," he claimed, implying a consolidation of all other groups against the Jats.

The ruling BJP in Haryana is desperately hoping that a polarisation of this kind would help it beat the dominant narrative of "badlaav (change)" when the state votes on October 5.

The BJP has been trying to exploit caste sentiments to get the non-Jat communities behind it ever since it came to power in Haryana in 2014. After its two terms in power, however, voter anger against the party seems to cut across communities.

The Jats, a land-owning caste, are to Haryana what the Yadavs are to heartland Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the Marathas to Maharashtra. The Jats make up about 27 per cent of the state's population but wield disproportionately wider political and social influence.

Jat leaders have occupied the chief minister's chair for most of the time since the state was carved out of Punjab in 1966.

After it swept to power in 2014, the BJP appointed a low-profile Punjabi community leader, Manohar Lal Khattar, as chief minister. The Jats saw it as a snub, having voted for the BJP in large numbers.

Khattar was replaced four months ago by an OBC, Nayab Singh Saini. The change was aimed at nullifying the voter anger against Khattar and, at the same time, marshalling the OBCs and other communities against the Jats.

But the prospect of having a Jat chief minister again has brightened amid expectations that the Congress would return to power and offer the seat to Hooda, its tallest leader in the state.

Hooda had ruled the state for two terms, from 2004 to 2014. There is also speculation about his son, Deepender Singh Hooda, being given the top post.

Mahendar Singh, a youth in Mirchpur village, dismissed the allegations of Jat hooliganism.

"The charges against us are exaggerated. In their excitement, Jat youths sometimes resort to rowdy behaviour but they don’t intimidate anybody. We have excellent relations with the Dalits and other lower castes in our village," he said.

Mirchpur, also in Hisar district, had witnessed caste violence in 2010. Jats, the dominant community in the village, had set fire to Dalit houses, burning alive a 70-year-old man and his 17-year-old, polio-affected daughter.

Reminded of it, Mahendar said it was an aberration and that the prevailing mood in the village was one of "bhaichara (brotherhood)".

Chhotu Lal, another Jat villager in Mirchpur, identified himself as a BJP supporter and blamed Jat hooliganism on Congress supporters.

"It's incorrect to assume that all Jats are backing the Congress; many Jat families in our village will vote for the BJP," he said.

Lal said the local BJP candidate, Captain Abhimanyu, had "done a lot of work". Abhimanyu happens to be a Jat, too. He had lost the last election but has been re-nominated from the Narnaud constituency.

BJP campaigners have been widely invoking Mirchpur and Gohana — where Dalit houses were torched during Congress rule in 2005 — to try and isolate Jat voters, seen as Congress supporters.

The BJP is also hoping that the Jat and Dalit votes would be split by two alliances: one between the Indian National Lok Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the other between the Jannayak Janta Party and the Azad Samaj Party of Chandrasekhar Azad Ravan, a Dalit leader from western Uttar Pradesh.

"There’s been an improvement on the ground for us but we are still behind the Congress. We hope for more improvement by the time the votes are cast," a BJP leader said, referring to the results of surveys conducted by the party.