CHANDIGARH: The BJP Sunday cleared the names of Union Minister Birender Singh's bureaucrat son, Brijendra, as candidate from Hisar constituency and former Congress MP Arvind Sharma, who joined the saffron party recently, from Rohtak seat.
Both Hisar and Rohtak are high-stakes constituencies, considered strongholds of Bhajan Lal and the Hooda families.
Sharma has been a two-time MP from Karnal between 2004 and 2009 and has also represented Sonipat as an Independent MP. He will take on Congress' sitting MP Deepender Singh Hooda, the son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, from Rohtak. The BJP has now named candidates for all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, where polling will be held in the sixth phase on May 12.
Brijendra Singh is a 1998-batch IAS officer and he was posted as managing director, Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (HAFED).
He said that if he was elected he would work towards solving the problems of the people of his constituency. The bureaucrat-turned-politician sees similarities between his previous job and his future assignment, saying the purpose of both is to serve people, the state and the country.
He felt that in politics there is a more direct connection with the people and said that an MP's vision should not be limited to his constituency, but should extend to the whole country.
Replying to a question, Brijendra said he was hopeful that people of Hisar would make the BJP victorious with a big margin. His father, Birender Singh, Sunday said he has offered to resign from the Cabinet and from the Rajya Sabha. The decision came in the wake of the BJP selecting his son as a candidate from Hisar.
Birender Singh said he had informed BJP president Amit Shah about his offer to resign as he wanted to send across a message of anti-dynastic politics after Brijendra got the Lok Sabha ticket.
Brijendra said that he supports and respects his father's decision but the same time, "it puts more responsibility on my shoulders". On the legacy of his great grandfather, Sir Chottu Ram, he said it was not just limited to Haryana. "Since childhood, I was impacted by his ideology," he said.
Birender Singh had a 47-year-long political career, of which he spent 42 years serving the Congress. He said he would work to strengthen the BJP further. He will be campaigning for Brijendra and other BJP candidates in Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.
Asked if his son had taken voluntary retirement, Birender Singh said, "He has applied for it." The Union minister had joined the BJP in 2014 after quitting Congress. He had openly revolted against the then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. At that time, Birender had said, "The path I have chosen for myself will help strengthen the BJP in Haryana in the next 15 years."