In Haryana, it’s the season of announcing candidatures, heartbreaks and rebellion in both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camps.
The BJP, in its first list of 67, dropped nine MLAs, while it dropped six MLAs, including two Ministers, in the second list of 21.
Palwal MLA Deepak Mangla, Faridabad MLA Narendra Gupta, Gurugram MLA Sudhir Singhla, Bhawani Khera MLA Vishambhar Malik, Cabinet Minister Ranjit Chautala from Rania, Sitaram Yadav from Ateli are some of the many names who have missed the bus.
In contrast, the Congress played safe. It has re-fielded all sitting MLAs in the first list. But that didn’t spare the grand old party from troubles within.
BJP’S REBEL TROUBLE
When the BJP went for a major overhaul of its candidate list to beat anti-incumbency — taking lessons from its Lok Sabha performance in Uttar Pradesh — it knew there would be strong opposition from within. But it did not expect the extent of rebellion as it is witnessing in Haryana.
What may have been the most embarrassing for the BJP was its newly inducted Congress leader who fought and became an MP — Naveen Jindal’s mother Savitri — abruptly resigning from the BJP and announcing plans to run as an independent candidate from Hisar against BJP and Congress candidates. On the last day of the filing of nominations, 74-year-old Savitri, the wife of noted industrialist the late O P Jindal, entered the fray against Haryana Minister and sitting MLA Kamal Gupta.
Soon after the BJP’s first list of 67 names was released, Haryana Energy Minister Ranjit Singh, Minister of State Bishamber Singh Balmiki, former minister Karan Dev Kamboj and Ratia MLA Laxman Napa emerged as faces of dissent in the saffron fold.
Then followed a series of resignations, embarrassing the party as it tried to pretend it was unperturbed. Lakshman Napa, an MLA from Ratia, resigned after being dropped. Former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal has been fielded from Ratia instead. In what may hurt BJP as far as messaging goes, Haryana BJP OBC Morcha state president and former minister Karandev Kamboj resigned from all party positions after being overlooked. Amit Jain, BJP youth state executive member who was working as the Assembly election in-charge from Sonipat, too, stepped down after his name did not figure in the BJP list. Sukhwinder Mandi, who was working as the Haryana BJP Kisan Morcha state president also followed suit.
The list is long and their frustration is longer. Ranjit Chautala has also resigned from his ministerial position and is toying with the idea of fighting as independent as former Minister Bishamber Balmiki too resigned from the BJP after getting a lukewarm response to his lobbying. Even leaders like Prashant Sunny Yadav, who joined the party before the Lok Sabha elections, have now resigned after not getting a ticket from Rewari. He is likely to contest as an independent.
The anger among the rebels can be gauged from the fact that basic courtesy is also thrown out of the window. A video that has gone viral shows Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini attempting to shake hands with Karan Kamboj, who refused to do so and walked past him with folded hands. He was seeking a ticket from either Indri or Radaur, but did not get it, following which he resigned from the BJP. He made it a matter of “insult” to the OBC community and predicted the loss of the saffron party in both seats.
RAINING REBELLION IN CONGRESS
One would understand the problem of the BJP given how liberally they denied candidature to sitting MLAs, but there are nearly a dozen rebellions in Congress that have been in opposition for a decade now in Haryana.
What would seem to be a gift to the BJP to exploit its long-standing allegation of parivaarvaad against the Congress, Sweta Dhull — a front runner from Kalayat — has labelled the same charge against Congress after being denied a ticket and Bhupinder Hooda pushed for an MP’s son from this constituency. She emerged as a champion of issues like irregularity in examination, but upset, she tweeted, “It’s true, only son a king can become a king” — a direct charge against the Congress.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. After being denied a ticket, former Mayor of Panchkula and Congress leader Upendra Kaur Ahluwalia will now fight as an independent. The story isn’t much different from the Nalwa constituency, where an upset Congress leader has called a meeting of Cadres to decide his course of action. Rebellion has also hit Ballavgarh where Congress leader Sharda Rathore who was seen with tears, filed for nomination as an independent candidate. Another Congress leader who cried after being denied a ticket was former Congress MLA Lalit Nagar who too has filed for nomination as an independent from Haryana’s Tigaon seat.
Bhiwani is known as the wrestling capital of Haryana. Rebellion has hit even there for Congress in spite of having two-star wrestlers on its side. Master Satbir Khatera has now rebelled and will fight as an independent after denied a ticket from Bawani Khera in Bhiwani. Another Congress leader of Bhiwani, its former MLA Ram Kishan had also called a meeting of his followers after he was denied a ticket and may work against the interest of the party.
If BJP MP Naveen Jindal’s mother left the BJP after being denied a ticket, so did former Congress Minister Chaudhary Nirmal Singh’s daughter Chitra Sarwara who quit Congress. She will fight as an independent. She wanted a Congress ticket from Ambala Cant.
Problems erupted for the Congress even in cities like Panipat. In both Panipat Urban and Rural, the Congress is facing the heat from within. Former MLA Rohita Tewari has quit Congress tonight as an independent from Panipat Urban. Meanwhile, Vijay Jain has rebelled to fight as a rebel from Panipat rural.
Ten years of anti-incumbency and Jat anger along with farmer dissatisfaction have been worrying the BJP. While the Congress may think it has an edge in Haryana, in the rebellion monsoon — both the Congress and the BJP — are firefighting to limit the damages. Rebellions are common in every election after some would naturally be denied a ticket. But in the recent past, no state has witnessed this extent of rebellion, as in Haryana, which has affected both parties. Much of the angst in BJP is for being denied tickets in favour of turncoats while in Congress it is because of facilitating relatives of Congress leaders or accommodating ‘outsiders’ like the Congress fielded a journalist from Rania.
For now, both are bracing for this raining rebellion.