After Kiran’s exit, multiple Cong ticket aspirants from Tosham

Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, August 2
The Tosham Assembly segment in Bhiwani district, which is still represented by Congress turncoat Kiran Choudhry even though she has joined the BJP, is an open game for the new ticket aspirants in the Congress.

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Stronghold of Bansi Lal family

• The Congress won 11 out of 17 Assembly contests, including 2004 byelection since 1957
• In an exception, Lok Dal candidate Dharambir (now BJP MP) defeated Bansi Lal in 1987
• Bansi Lal had also won this seat twice (in 1991 and 1996) as Haryana Vikas Party candidate
• Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh won this seat thrice (in 1977 as an Independent and in 1982 and 2005 as a
  Congress nominee)

Tosham is considered a family stronghold of the Bansi Lal family. Though the Congress — with one of the members of Bansi Lal’s family as its candidate, has won this seat 11 times since 1957, no other leader of the Congress other than from the Bansi Lal’s family could have significant impact in this segment to date. Even former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has stayed away from holding any public meetings in the Tosham Assembly segment.
Now, with Kiran switching to the BJP, the Congress has a long list of aspirants vying for the ticket from this Assembly segment. The aspirants include grandson of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Anirudh Chaudhry (son of Bansi Lal’s elder son Ranbir Mahendra), besides local leaders Sanjeet Khyalia, Kamal Pradhan, zila parishad chairperson Anita Malik, retired Commissioner RS Doon and Manender Baganwala.
All aspirants are loyalists of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. After Kiran Choudhry left, there seems no factionalism in the Congress in the Tosham Assembly segment, as those affiliated to Kiran Choudhry too have left the Congress along with her.
Birender Singh, a local resident, said the Congress though has a support base especially affiliated to Hooda, it will be a test of Hooda popularity in the stronghold of former CM Bansi Lal.
“Hooda could consider fielding Bansi Lal’s grandson Anirudh to counter the narrative of legacy of the former Chief Minister. While Kiran Choudhry is likely to be the candidate from the BJP, it will be interesting to see whether the supporters of Bansi Lal, who seemed to be unhappy with the BJP will back Kiran Choudhry,” said Singh. He said BJP MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Dharambir Singh too had a strong base in Tosham as he had scored a lead of about 8,000 votes in Tosham over the Congress candidate Rao Dan Singh.
Sanjeet Khyalia, a Congress leader who belongs to Jhanwari village in Tosham, said he had been approaching the people in a door-to-door campaign. “People feel cheated by the decision of Kiran Choudhry to join the BJP. They say it doesn’t behove a leader who claims to carry the legacy of Bansi Lal to ditch her own party – Congress – in such a way. It is apparent now that she had worked against the Congress candidate during the Lok Sabha elections,” he said, adding that this sentiment would also be in the favour of the Congress.