Former Speaker Kuldeep keen to field son Chanakya from Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 10

Former Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma is banking on the legacy of his father Chiranji Lal Sharma, who had won the Karnal parliamentary seat four times. He is willing to regain the political ground of his father and is batting for his son Chanakya Pandit for the Congress ticket from Karnal.

Sources in the party, however, claim the Congress is willing to field Kuldeep from Karnal, which is represented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the Assembly.

The Congress is likely to declare the list of candidates on Thursday. The other ticket aspirants are Virender Rathore, considered a close aide of Congress president Rahul Gandhi; Virender Maratha, an aide of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda; Shamsher Singh Gogi (Kumari Selja faction); and Pankaj Punia (Ashok Tanwar faction), among others.

Sources claim former MP Arvind Sharma, who had recently joined the BJP, is also in touch with the Congress after being denied the ticket from Karnal and Sonepat. But Kuldeep is confident about the ticket for his son.

“My father had won four times from Karnal. On three occasions, he had defeated BJP heavyweight Sushma Swaraj. My father and I worked hard for the people of Haryana in general and Karnal in particular. If my son is fielded, it will difficult for the BJP,” Kuldeep Sharma said.

The sitting Karnal MP, Ashwini Chopra, is from the BJP. The saffron party has dropped him and fielded its state general secretary Sanjay Bhatia.