Dynasty Talk
Hooda fells three families in one stroke
There was a time when Haryana was known as the land of three Lals — Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal. All three headed the state government at different times. Devi Lal went on to become deputy Prime Minister during V P Singh’s Prime Ministership. Then came two other political families — Hoodas and the Singhs (led by Birender Singh, who is a maternal grandson of Sir Chhotu Ram). While the patriarchs of the three Lal families have long gone, their scions have been locked in a struggle that has lasted several decades.
The rise of the Hooda family is threatening the survival of Lal descendents as well as the family of Birender Singh. In the current elections, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has succeeded in ensuring that Lok Sabha tickets are denied to the three prominent families despite their best efforts to win the nomination. He got the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh ticket for his loyalist Dan Singh by ousting Shruti Chowdhary, who is the daughter of Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law Kiran Chowdhary.
Hooda convinced the Congress leadership that Shruti, who had lost the last Lok Sabha election by a margin of over four lakh votes, had no chance of winning this time either. He proposed the name of his loyalist Dan Singh for the seat. Kiran fought for weeks against Hooda’s attempt to wrest control of Bhiwani. This delayed the Haryana list as the party had to form a special committee to look into the matter. The decision ultimately went in Hooda’s favour.
He has similarly persuaded the party against giving a Congress ticket from Hisar either to Birender Singh’s son Brijendra Singh, who is a sitting BJP MP from from the constituency, or to Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi, who wanted to quit BJP and return to the Congress. Hooda argued that the party had given everything to Birender and Kuldeep, but they deserted Congress for greener pastures. They want to now return as the party’s fortunes appear to be reviving in the state. He said the party should prefer loyalists over deserters. The leadership agreed and nominated Jai Prakash for the Hisar seat.
Internal Rumblings
BJP struggles to handle mercurial Bishnoi
Former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi is giving sleepless nights to the BJP, which he has joined after quitting the Congress. He was expecting to be fielded as a BJP candidate from the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. But the party has nominated Ranjit Singh Chautala, son of former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and brother of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
An angry Kuldeep has reportedly refused to campaign for the party in the state. His son Bhavya Bishnoi is the MLA from the Adampur assembly segment of the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. Attempts to persuade Kuldeep, who has earlier represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha, proved futile. The party then rushed chief minister Nayab Singh Saini to talk to him. Saini met Kuldeep at his Golf Links residence in New Delhi. In the meeting, Kuldeep stuck to his two demands of fielding him from Hisar and making his son a minister.
He reportedly told Saini that as a Congress Working Committee member, he used to distribute tickets to candidates, but in BJP he has to fight for his own ticket. He said the denial of ticket has dealt a big blow to his political career. The meeting ended without any agreement as Saini did not make any commitment on Hisar. According to sources, former chief minister M L Khattar spoke to Kuldeep after his meeting with Saini and reminded him of his cases relating to disproportionate assets and some other issues and asked him to focus on sorting them out.
Khattar told Kuldeep that in the meantime the party would give more responsibility to his son. But instead of accepting Kuldeep’s demand for making Bhavya a minister in the state, the party has made him the head of its youth wing in Haryana. Kuldeep has not taken his sidelining well and is unlikely to take a plunge into campaigning for the party. Sources said the state may see a realignment of forces before the assembly elections later this year.