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All-Jat contest set for nail-biting finish
Badhra (Charkhi Dadri): History seems to be repeating itself. In 1998, the scions of two political dynasties crossed swords in Bhiwani parliamentary elections. Surender
Badhra (Charkhi Dadri): History seems to be repeating itself. In 1998, the scions of two political dynasties crossed swords in Bhiwani parliamentary elections. Surender Singh, son for former chief minister, Bansi Lal fought against Ajay Chautala, the grandson of the former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. The former won. The rivalry continued in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when Singh’s daughter, Shruti defeated Ajay Chautala. Now, in Badhra assembly constituency, part of Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat (re-named following delimitation in 2007) will see a keen triangular contest. Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) nominee Naina Chautala — wife of Ajay Chautala — is up against Congress’s Ranbir Mahendra, the son of Bansi Lal.
Facing them is sitting Bharatiya Janata Party legislator, Sukhvinder Sheoran.
The all Jat fight on a predominant Jat turf will have a nail biting finish.
All the three major contestants have been elected as MLA only once. Naina (53) of the JJP who won her debut assembly poll in 2014 from Dabwali in Sirsa on an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ticket after her husband was sentenced in a corruption case. Mahendra (75) won the only election of his career from now abolished Mundhal Khurd seat in 2005. Sheoran (34) who won his debut poll in 2014 was among the few Jats from the BJP camp to have made it to the assembly.
Sheoran heavily banks on the BJP’s Ab ki Baar 75 Paar slogan to woo voters. “The BJP is going to form the next government again. When outsiders seek votes, tell them you want to remain with the power. Let’s secure our futures,’’ he tells an evening crowd at Kaliyana village.
Countering the outsider tag, Naina Chautala said, “If am an outsider, then so is chief minister, ML Khattar and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.” Her son Dushyant Chautala will contest from Uchana Kalan.
“I can say it with conviction that I visited you more than the elected representatives,” Mahendra tells a gathering at Jhojhu Kalan village. He invokes his father Bansi Lal to strike a chord. “Had it not been for my father, canal water, electricity lines and roads would never have been built in this region.”
“Naina Chautala is comparatively better placed. But the BJP MLA would have an advantage if we go by the Lok Sabha results,” political scientist at Panjab University, Chandigarh, Ashutosh Kumar said.
