With Haryana going to polls on October 5, kin of Haryana's three famous 'Lals' have entered the contest, with each one impacting the other’s prospects; An interesting electoral battle may ensue.
Ever since Haryana was carved out as a separate state in 1966, its politics has revolved around the three famous 'Lals' - Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal -- all of whom have served as the state's chief ministers. Devi Lal also served as the country's deputy prime minister. The state’s politics revolved around these three for about three decades.
The descendants of the prominent political figures have been fielded by the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).
The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the votes will be counted on October 8.
Where the prominent representatives are fielded?
The Tosham Assembly seat in Bhiwani district is all set to witness a clash between two grandchildren of the late Bansi Lal.
Anirudh Chaudhry, a former treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is the grandson of Bansi Lal and will fight against his cousin and former MP Shruti Choudhry -- the BJP candidate.
Shruti Choudhry is the daughter of BJP leader Kiran Choudhry and Bansi Lal's son late Surender Singh while Anirudh Chaudhry is the son of Ranbir Singh Mahendra. Mahendra, a former BCCI president, and Surender Singh were brothers.
The Tosham assembly segment was represented by Kiran Choudhry, who quit as an MLA last month after which the BJP nominated her for the Rajya Sabha by-poll, which she won unopposed.
Not just Tosham, the contest has become interesting in the Dabwali seat in Sirsa district, currently held by the Congress.
From Dabwali, Devi Lal's grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, is taking on JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, great-grandson of the former deputy prime minister.
Aditya Devi Lal, who is the son of Jagdish, the youngest son of Devi Lal, quit the BJP and joined the INLD on Sunday and was fielded from Dabwali.
Before joining the Indian National Lok Dal, which is contesting the Haryana polls in alliance with the BSP, Aditya took the blessings of his uncle and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala at the latter's Sirsa residence.
Digvijay Singh Chautala is JJP leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala's brother. JJP, which is headed by Dushyant and Digvijay's father and former MP Ajay Singh Chautala, is contesting the polls in alliance with Chandra Shekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram).
From the Adampur segment in Hisar district, BJP has fielded former chief minister late Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi.
Bhavya is at present the sitting MLA from Adampur. His father Kuldeep Bishnoi is a senior BJP leader.
From Rania seat in Sirsa district, an interesting contest appears on the cards after Ranjit Singh Chautala, son of former Devi Lal, who was Energy and Jails Minister, quit the BJP after being denied a ticket recently and had said he would enter the fray as an Independent.
INLD has fielded Devi Lal's great grandson Arjun Chautala from Rania, also in Sirsa district. Arjun's father is INLD senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala.
About JJP, Aditya Devi Lal said, "The party used to tell people that this (Sirsa region) is their 'janam bhoomi' and 'karma bhoomi', but sometimes they head to Uchana (from where Dushyant is fighting), sometimes Bhiwani (from where Ajay Chautala has remained an MP), and sometimes Dabwali.”
“But people are wise, they know..." After he joined INLD, Abhay Chautala urged a gathering in Chautala village to "give Aditya so much support that those who fought against him, before they file their nominations, should be forced to think what fate awaits them in the electoral battle."
However, JJP's Digvijay Chautala is confident that he will win the Dabwali seat with a "big vote margin."
Arjun Chautala, meanwhile, said, "I have full belief that people of Rania will give their blessings and make our party victorious."
On Ranjit Chautala, Arjun said, "He has decided to contest as an Independent, but I think it is not going to matter much."
Earlier in this year's Lok Sabha polls, three members of the Devi Lal family -- Lal's son Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent MLA who had switched over to the BJP shortly before LS polls, JJP MLA Naina Chautala, who is wife of JJP chief and Devi Lal's grandson Ajay Singh Chautala; and Sunaina Chautala (47), wife of INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala's cousin Ravi Chautala -- had contested against each other from the Hisar parliamentary seat.
However, they could not taste victory as the Hisar seat was won by a Congress candidate.
INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala had also entered the fray from the Kurukshetra parliamentary seat, which was won by BJP's Naveen Jindal.
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