In Gurugram district seats, BJP banks on youth, party loyalists

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to bank on youth and party loyalists in three out of four constituencies in Gurugram district, where it has fielded

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to bank on youth and party loyalists in three out of four constituencies in Gurugram district, where it has fielded fresh faces. The party is likely to induct a new face in Gurgaon constituency as well.

HT Image

In Badshahpur, the surprise entrant is Manish Yadav (37), who joined the party’s frontal organization, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in 2009 and is now its state president. In neighbouring Pataudi, the new entrant is Satya Prakash Jrawta (52), who joined the party in 2014 and has been working as the state spokesperson since then. Party leaders said his active participation in work at an organisational’s level and popularity among party leaders helped him get the mandate.

In Sohna, the party has decided to test Sanjay Singh, who has fought thrice from the party ticket in the Muslim-dominated constituencies of Tauru and twice from Nuh. Singh also joined the BJYM and is presently the executive member at the state-level.

Although the decision to not field sitting MLAs from Gurgaon district has surprised many, party leaders said the new faces would win because of their hard work and clean image among the people.

Yadav, the Badshahpur candidate, is a post-graduate in marketing. After completing his masters in the USA, he worked and lived there for more than six years before returning to India.

Surrounded by supporters at the MG Road office, on Tuesday, Yadav said giving a ticket to a grassroots functionary like him vindicated the faith of workers in the party. “I had sought party ticket in 2014 assembly election, but was told to wait,” he said.

Denying the possibility of a voters’ backlash due to denial of ticket to senior Ahir leader, Rao Narbir Singh, the BJP candidate said he had worked tirelessly for Singh during the 2014 elections. “We are loyal soldiers of the party and I am sure Singh will definitely support me during the (upcoming) polls,” he asserted.

Yadav said his agenda would be to improve infrastructure and overcome civic deficiencies in developing sectors, reduce pollution, improve public health facilities, government education and green cover in Gurugram and Badshahpur.

In neighbouring Pataudi constituency, BJP candidate Satya Prakash Jrawta is not a career politician. He was bank employee before he joined politics in 2009. He fought as an independent candidate in 2009 and bagged 5,000 votes. In 2010, he became the chairman of Pataudi Panchayat Samiti and in 2014, he joined the BJP. He was appointed as the co-spokesperson of the party in the state. He has been given ticket in place of sitting MLA Bimla Chowdhary.

“I have worked hard in the organisation and I was given a ticket because of the support of party workers and people of Pataudi,” he said. Jrawta said his focus would be to generate employment opportunities in Pataudi, boost education and pitch for local employment in newly developing economic zones along the KMP expressway.

In Sohna, Sanjay Singh has been selected to contest the state polls instead of incumbent Tejpal Tanwar. Singh has a political background, as his father Kanwar Suraj Pal was a cabinet minister from the BJP in 1996. He belongs to the Rajput community and joined the party in 1997. He also cut his teeth as a BJYM leader and is presently a member of the state executive. He has fought assembly elections thrice before—first in 2005 from Tauru and twice from Nuh in 2009 and 2014—but did not win.