By Kushal Jeena
The denial of party tickets to seven sitting legislatures including two top ministers to contest forthcoming assembly elections in Haryana slated for later this month could mar the electoral prospects of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party which was otherwise all set to repeat stage a comeback as opposition continues to be a badly divided house.
The situation within the party has come to such a pass that the dissidents have threatened either to stand as independent candidates or campaign against the official candidates of the party. The MLAs who failed to get re-nomination do not get along with the chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who has failed to perform during his stint, but is still rated most favourable for the top slot for simple reason that powerful Jat community is divided again into three. The chief minister had a major say in the ticket distribution.
Two ministers are among the seven MLAs were denied a party ticket in the first list of 78 candidates that party announced recently for the October 21 state assembly polls. Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav, who represented Ateli constituency in Mahendergarh district, too was denied party ticket to re-contest from the seat.
However, among the ministers who have been re-nominated include Capt Abhimanyu, Ram Bilas Sharma, Anil Vij, Krishan Kumar Bedi, Karan Dev Kamboj, Kavita Jain and O P Dhankar.
The BJP had won 47 seats in the 2014 assembly polls and after won Jind by polls earlier this year, the party’s strength rose to 48. The party has set a target of winning 75 plus seats this time. The state assembly has strength of 90 legislatures
A number of the legislators, who have been denied re-nomination from their sitting constituencies, had been sulking for the past two years alleging step-motherly treatment by their own government vis-à-vis the rival group.
“Every MLA wants that he/she be heard. But there is one set of MLAs who are trying to run the show and throw their weight around. They are not avatars of Lord Vishnu. We only want that we too should be heard,” Santosh Sarwan, the BJP MLA from Mullana, had alleged giving vent to her ire.
The sulking legislators are also furious because as many as ten turncoats who were made to join the party ahead of elections either from the opposition Indian National Lok Dal or some prominent personalities were given priorities over those who toiled for the party for a long time.
Several Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLAs also switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party before the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year and now ahead of the state assembly polls.
INLD turncoats, majority of them sitting MLAs, have been major gainers in the first list of candidates. Lone SAD MLA Balkaur Singh, whose entry into the BJP fold recently had angered the Shiromani Akali Dal, has also been rewarded with a ticket from his Kalanwali reserved seat in Sirsa.
Among the INLD turncoats who joined the BJP — Ranbir Gangwa will fight from Nalwa, Zakir Hussain from Nuh, Naseem Ahmed from Ferozepur Jhirkha, Nagender Bhadana from Faridabad NIT, Ram Chand Kamboj from Rania, all legislators.
Besides, INLD leader from Rohtak district Satish Nandal, who also joined the BJP recently, will fight from Garhi Sampla Kiloi, from where former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is a sitting legislator.
Ram Kumar Kashyap, another former INLD leader who also switched over to the BJP, will fight from Indri, while another sitting legislator of the party who too crossed over to the saffron party, Parminder Dhull, will fight from his Julana seat.
Singh, a descendant of India’s first revolution for independence in 1857 commands huge support base in south Haryana known as Yadav belt. He was seeking ticket for his daughter Aarti Singh from Rewari, which party high command denied because he was not in good terms with the chief minister Khattar, a migrated Punjabi. Indrajeet has been sulking since then and has decided not field any candidates from his family and clan as BJP candidate.
There are reports that he met former Congress chief minister from the state Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The BJP put off the announcement of candidate from Rewari seat after the reports of Indrajeet’s meeting with Hooda came in. The Yadavs hold a significant place in BJP’s scheme of things to return to power in the state. The party knows if Yadav and Jats come together, the BJP would be wiped out.
The Congress in 2009 had won 7 of the 14 assembly seats in the south Haryana to form the government, but it failed even to open its account in the previous elections because Indrajeet had left the Congress and joined the BJP a few months before the elections. Interesting, the BJP won 11 out of 14 seats in this region after Inderjeet joining the saffron party in 2014.
“The Gurgaon MP is a strong leader and he does not need someone else to make statements on his behalf. This could be MLAs personal opinion,” said Raman Malik while referring to a statement made by party MLA Umesh Aggarwal, who is a staunch Indrajeet supporter.
While announcing its first list of candidates for ensuing assembly elections the BJP sprung a surprise in distribution of tickets for the assembly polls, particularly in south Haryana, by not including sitting Badshahpur MLA and PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh, industries minister and Faridabad MLA Vipul Goel, and deputy speaker of the state assembly and MLA from Ateli Santosh Yadav in its list of 78 candidates.
These senior leaders have been replaced by those considered relatively newcomers to the electoral politics but old party hands, said party insiders. The ruling party released its first list of 78 candidates on Monday.
In the Gurugram district, the party has changed the candidates in three constituencies namely Badshahpur, Sohna and Pataudi, while the candidate for Gurgaon constituency has not been declared. Umesh Agarwal is the sitting MLA from Gurgaon and his name is likely to be decided in the next two days, said the party in a statement.
Manish Yadav from Chakkarpur village, who is the state president of BJP Yuva Morcha, has been given the ticket from Badshahpur in place of Rao Narbir Singh, who still has a chance to get a ticket from another constituency in south Haryana. Singh was not available for comment, but his office maintained that the decision of the party was paramount. Singh has been MLA thrice from different seats in Ahirwal belt.
The party has also not announced the names of its candidates for Rewari and Kosli constituencies, which control the pulse of regional politics.
The dropping of industries minister Goel from the list has also surprised the political observers as he was a prominent face of the government. Goel has been replaced by Narender Gupta, who is the state treasurer of the party. In Ateli, the BJP gave the ticket to Sita Ram Yadav instead of sitting MLA Santosh
“The party has chosen a mix of candidates with preference to those with a clean image and those who had delivered in the last five years. “Those who have been given a ticket and those who could not get are equally meritorious,” said Jawahar Yadav, a state party spokesman.
Ends.