Haryana polls: Several BJP, Cong rebels adamant to fight own party nominees

Chandigarh: Even though the top leaders of the ruling BJP as well as the principal opposition party Congress in Haryana succeeded in mollifying several of their respective rebel leaders - who had jumped into the fray after being denied the ticket - there are still many who are adamant to fight against own party candidates in the upcoming October 5 assembly polls.

The last date to withdraw the nominations was September 16.

There were some of the senior BJP leaders who were anguished for being denied the ticket but were pacified by the party leadership led by chief minister Nayab Saini, state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli and election in-charge 

The miffed leaders whom Dharmendra Pradhan met personally and mollified included BJP veteran Ram Bilas Sharma (Mahendergarh), senior leader Kavita Jain (Sonepat), Bharti Saini and Shiv Kumar Mehta (both from Narnaul) and Rampal Yadav from Kosli segment and Karnal’s former mayor Renu Bala.

However, the saffron party still faced possible damage from its former MLA, Savitri Jindal – mother of BJP Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal and country’s richest woman – who is contesting against BJP’s nominee Kamal Gupta from Hisar.

Other prominent rebel leaders who could not be pacified and could cause a dent in the BJP candidates’ support included, Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Naveen Goyal (Gurugram), Deepak Dagar (Prithala), Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin), Kalyan Chauhan (Sohna), Bachan Singh Arya and Jasbir Deswal (Safidon), and Nagendra Bhadana who had already joined INLD.

However, BJP leaders held that they were still in touch with these (rebel) leaders and were confident of bringing them back in the party’s fold.

Rebellion in Congress

Like BJP, the Congress senior leaders - led by former two-term chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda - also undertook a damage control exercise, succeeded in pacifying several of the disgruntled leaders. Congress is seeking a return to power after a decade.

One of the prominent leaders who had rebelled against the party candidate from Nalwa, Sampat Singh was persuaded to withdraw from the race. Also, former MLA and chief parliamentary secretary Ram Kishan Fauji, withdrew his nomination from Bawani Khera seat.

Likewise, other senior leaders who withdrew their nominations following Hooda’s persuasion included Jasbir Mallour and Himmat Singh from Ambala city. 

Other leaders pacified by Hooda included Prem Singh Malik, Suman Sharma, Naresh From Hansi, Sudhir Kumar (Pataudi) Shamsuddin and Pradeep (Sohna) and Rajinder (Nilokheri), who also withdrew their nominations. 

However, the party failed to pacify party leader Chitra Sarwara, who is the daughter of its senior leader and Ambala city candidate Nirmal Singh, who has decided to fight against the party’s candidate Parvinder Pal Pari and the candidates of other parties in the fray from Ambala Cantt.

The party has also failed to bring former MLA Rohita Rewri from Panipat city, two-time Congress MLA Sharda Rathore from Ballabhgarh, former MLAs - Lalit Nagar from Tigaon, Rajesh Joon from Bahadurgarh, Raj Kumar Valmiki from Nilokheri and Satvinder Rana from Kalayat – who have decided to contest as independent against the party candidate.