Ateli, Kosli reserved for Rao’s daughter

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, August 26

The state BJP selection committee has reserved Ateli and Kosli for Arti Rao, daughter of MP and MoS Rao Inderjit Singh. She has been asked to submit her preference to the central selection committee at the earliest. The party finalising the list of candidates from Haryana has set aside the two Ahir strongholds for Arti.

Though the party had asked Rao to decide on the seat for his daughter, he refused, saying that she was an independent leader. “She is an independent leader and whether to seek a ticket or not and where to debut from is completely her decision. It’s between her and the party,” he said.

Sources claim that Rao, who was part of the two-day selection committee marathon meeting in Gurugram, did not seek ticket for his daughter, even when asked to do so.

Arti has been trying for a debut since 2014, when Rao snapped decade-long ties with the Congress and switched to the BJP. She was denied a ticket in 2014 and 2019, and according to many, it upset Rao. After the recent LS elections, Rao has emerged stronger than ever in south Haryana, especially Ahirwal, and holds the key to the party’s existence there. The party has been going out of its way to keep him happy, especially after ML Khattar was included in the Modi Cabinet and Rao was retained as MoS.

There is speculation that Congress is trying to persuade Rao to return, keeping the BJP on its toes. While BJP is insistent on fielding Arti, resentment is simmering in Rao’s camp as a majority of his men could not find any place even in the preliminary list of aspirants. Around 50 contenders, laying claim to tickets in Ahirwal, Bagar, and GT Road regions, have complained to Rao how district presidents were given the responsibility to submit the list of candidates.

“The Congress gives freedom to apply for or seek tickets to everybody. In the BJP, you are dependent on the whims and fancies of district presidents who owe their allegiance to certain leaders,” said an aspirant from Faridabad. “We were shocked to know that despite having strong presence in our segment, our names did not even reach the selection committee as it depends on their ‘rai-mashwara’. We switched from Congress to BJP in 2014. The first term we were not given tickets, saying we were outsiders. In 2019, we were not in Khattar’s camp and were denied tickets. Now, when it’s probably our last chance, we have not been given a fair chance,” he said. Even though Rao refused to comment, a senior member of the selection committee said barring three-four people, a majority — including Rao — had no access to the lists during the meeting and knew about the names only when they were announced. “We are awaiting the final recommendation list,” he said.