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Lok Sabha polls: United by blood, divided by politics
Congress leader Chander Mohan is holding closed-door meetings for party candidate from Sirsa, Kumari Selja, and his younger brother Kuldeep Bishnoi is seeking votes for BJP nominee Ashok Tanwar, who had joined the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan and his younger brother Kuldeep Bishnoi, a two-time Member of Parliament, have started canvassing for their respective party candidates for the Sirsa parliamentary seat. Congress leader Chander Mohan is holding closed-door meetings for party candidate from Sirsa, Kumari Selja, and his younger brother Kuldeep Bishnoi is seeking votes for BJP nominee Ashok Tanwar, who had joined the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the gathering at Bishnoi-dominated Nadhauri village in Fatehabad, BJP leader Bishnoi said that he is not unhappy with the party leadership after the ticket was denied to him from the Hisar parliamentary seat.
“The rumours are being spread that I am unhappy with the BJP. I came here to seek your votes for party candidate Ashok Tanwar. We have to work as common workers for the BJP and ensure party candidates’ victory in Haryana. The people have made up their mind to elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister for the third term. My cousin Dura Ram, MLA from Fatehabad, is also seeking votes for Tanwar and we hope that he will secure victory with a handsome margin,” he added.
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini had also conducted two meetings with Bishnoi during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and tried to sort out his grievances.
Earlier this week, Congress leader Chander Mohan visited several villages in Fatehabad. While addressing the people, he claimed that Selja will be the next chief minister of Haryana.
“I have come here to seek votes for my sister Selja, who has served you twice as Sirsa MP. She has worked a lot for the parliamentary seat and she will be elevated to the CM’s post after Congress is voted to power in October assembly polls. There is a huge anti-incumbency against the BJP government and every section of society wants to uproot them from power,” he added.
After a gap of 26 years, no member of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal is contesting the Lok Sabha polls. Post the exit of Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini taking reins of the state, Kuldeep Bishnoi hoped that the party will field him from Hisar but lost to state power minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, a scion of the Devi Lal dynasty, who joined the party a few hours before the BJP made him candidate from Hisar. After BJP denied ticket to Bishnoi, his brother Chander Mohan was hoping Congress’ ticket from Hisar, but the party fielded former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s loyalist Jai Parkash, who represented Hisar on three occasions.
Both the BJP and Congress can’t ignore the anger of ‘Bishnoi family’ as it can hurt their calculation because there are nearly one lakh Bishnoi voters in the Sirsa parliamentary seat and 60,000 in Hisar. Chander Mohan is not canvassing in Hisar for Jai Parkash, who is considered as archrival of Bhajan Lal family.
