First-time candidates from Indian National Lok Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party – Santosh Dahiya and Vikram Kadyan, son of ex-MLA OP Beri, respectively, are set to pose a serious challenge to sitting MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadyan at Beri, a Congress stronghold.
Raghuvir Singh would be contesting from Beri for the fifth time. Though the Congress is yet to officially announce his name, given his stature, Raghuvir Singh, a former speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, is likely to be fielded again from here.
In the 2009 assembly polls, he won by a margin of 5,176 votes against independent candidate Chatar Singh. Former BJP MLA Naresh Malik, who was denied ticket from Beri, may make the contest multi-cornered as he stepped up his mass contact programme after Saturday, when his name did not feature in the saffron party’s final list.
Malik, a resident of Gandhra village near Sampla town, was sidelined by the party which preferred turncoat OP Beri’s son –Vikram Kadyan, over him.
Another BJP leader Ramesh Dalal, who was intensely lobbying for a ticket from Beri, is also gearing to field his articulate son Sumit Dalal as an independent candidate against the three heavyweights – BJP, INLD and Congress. However, Santosh Dahiya of INLD has an edge over contenders as she has toured the constituency twice ever since the party nominated her for the ticket last month.
{{/usCountry}}Another BJP leader Ramesh Dalal, who was intensely lobbying for a ticket from Beri, is also gearing to field his articulate son Sumit Dalal as an independent candidate against the three heavyweights – BJP, INLD and Congress. However, Santosh Dahiya of INLD has an edge over contenders as she has toured the constituency twice ever since the party nominated her for the ticket last month.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Congress’s delay in announcing a candidate has raised eyebrows as Beri of Jhajjar district falls under chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s stronghold.