The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) came out with its first list of 67 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly poll, dropping at least eight sitting MLAs, including two Ministers. Another three MLAs have been shifted to contest in new constituencies, including Chief Minister Nayab Saini, who has been fielded from Kurukshetra’s Ladwa.
Mr. Saini had won the Karnal byelection in June after he was made the Chief Minister, replacing Manohar Lal, who is now the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs.
Jostling for seats
Three Jannayak Janta Party MLAs who had joined the BJP earlier this week — Devender Singh Babli, Anoop Dhanak and Ramkumar Gautam — made it to the list of ruling party candidates, and will be fielded from Tohana, Uklana (SC), and Safidon respectively. Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Chouhdry’s daughter Shruti and Gurgaon Lok Sabha MP Rao Inderjit Singh’s daughter Arti Rao Singh have been fielded from Tosham and Ateli respectively. Mr. Rao had sought a ticket for his daughter in the previous Assembly poll, while Ms. Choudhry and her daughter had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in June.
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Former State Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu has been fielded again from Narnaund Assembly constituency in Hisar, while former Public Works Department Minister Rao Narbir Singh, who had threatened to quit the BJP if denied a ticket this time, has been fielded from Badshahpur. He was denied the ticket in 2019.
Former jail superintendent Sunil Sangwan, son of BJP leader Satpal Sangwan, has been fielded from Dadri , dashing the hopes of wrestler Babita Phogat, who had unsuccessfully contested from the BJP’s ticket from the same constituency in 2019.
Unhappy leaders
Former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal, who had been denied a Lok Sabha ticket, has now been fielded from Raita. However, Haryana Jails Minister Ranjit Chautala, the son of late Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, has been snubbed by the party to field Shishpal Kambol from Rania. Mr. Chautala had won from Rania as an Independent in 2019 and joined the BJP before Lok Sabha polls this year.
Prominent among those who have been dropped is former Sports Minister and Pehowa MLA Sandeep Singh, who has been facing sexual harassment charges. The party has also dropped its MLAs in Gurgaon, Sohna, Bawani Khera, Ratia, Ateli and Faridabad.
Meanwhile, Olympic wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia called on Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, in Delhi on Wednesday, fuelling speculations that the two might contest the upcoming poll in Haryana on the Congress symbol.
The picture of the Mr. Gandhi flanked by two grapplers was shared on the Congress’s official handle on X.
‘Win-win needed’
The development comes just a day after the Congress’s central election committee (CEC) finalising its candidates for 66 seats. However, the party is yet to come out with its list of candidates as talks are on for a pre-poll alliance with the Aam Admi Party (AAP). On Wednesday (September 4, 2024), All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Haryana Deepak Babaria met Rajya Sabha member and AAP leader Raghav Chadha for a fresh round of talks.
Refusing to speculate on the number of seats being offered to the AAP, Mr. Babaria said the two parties were looking for a common meeting point. “Unless it is a win-win situation for both parties, there cant be any forward movement,” Mr. Babaria said.
The AAP is said to have demanded 10 seats, mostly along the Haryana-Punjab border, the local AAP sources said, adding that the party had been offered five seats by the Congress, including Jind, Kalayat and Panipat (Rural).
Local Congress leaders told The Hindu that Ms. Phogat, belonging to the Charkhi Dadri Balali village, could be fielded from the district’s Dadri Assembly constituency or the Julana Assembly constituency falling in Jind.
Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia might contest from the Jat-dominated Badli seat falling in his home district of Jhajjar. Another source said that Mr. Punia could also be considered for Sonipat’s Rai Assembly seat.
Published - September 04, 2024 09:39 pm IST
