BJP in caste conundrum over Rohtak, Sonepat seats

Ravinder Saini

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Rohtak, March 14

After declaring its candidates for six Lok Sabha seats yesterday, the BJP is looking for new winnable faces as its candidates for the four remaining seats of Rohtak, Sonepat, Hisar and Kurukshetra, say sources.

Wants to remove ‘non-jat’ tag

“The BJP leadership intends to remove the tag of the ‘non-Jat’ party as the tag forces the Jats, a prominent caste, having the highest vote share in the state, to polarise in favour of the Congress due to Bhupinder Singh Hooda. So the winnable candidates from the Jat community are being explored for the Rohtak seat this time. However, sitting MP Arvind Sharma is still a strong contender for the party ticket,” said a local BJP leader

Efforts on to convince jindal

A BJP leader in Kurukshetra claimed the party intended to field either former MP Naveen Jindal or a family member from Kurukshetra but at present, he is not keen and efforts are underway to convince him. If he doesn’t accept the offer, then the party may finalise the name of any local leader belonging to the Saini, Rod or Punjabi community, he added

The BJP has no option except to field new candidates from Hisar and Kurukshetra following the elevation of sitting Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini to Chief Minister and the resignation of Hisar MP Brijendra Singh from the party to join the Congress. A section of the leaders within the party is in favour of the new candidates from Rohtak and Sonepat for retaining both seats in the Deswali belt, which is considered the stronghold of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

“The BJP leadership intends to remove the tag of the ‘non-Jat’ party as the tag forces the Jats, a prominent caste, having the highest vote share in the state, to polarise in favour of the Congress due to Bhupinder Singh Hooda. So the winnable candidates from the Jat community are being explored for the Rohtak seat this time. However, sitting MP Arvind Sharma is still a strong contender for the party ticket,” said a local BJP leader.

He said shifting Arvind Sharma to Sonepat was also another option being contemplated by the party if a new face was fielded from Rohtak. Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda was the first choice if the party resolved to field a Jat against Congress Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda. A majority of the BJP leaders in the state wished Baba Mastnath Matth’s mahant Baba Balak Nath to be fielded from Rohtak if the ticket was allotted to a non-Jat candidate, he added.

Another BJP leader said if the BJP pitted a candidate from any community other than the Brahmins, they would have to accommodate Arvind Sharma in Sonepat or introduce any other Brahmin candidate from there to keep the Brahmin voters with the party. Olympics medalist Yogeshwar Dutt, sitting MP Ramesh Kaushik and MLA Mohan Lal Badoli were also in the race for the party ticket there, he added.

“Capt Abhimanyu is a strong contender for the saffron ticket from Hisar but the names of Capt Bhupinder, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Ranbir Singh Gangwa are also doing the rounds. Abhimanyu won the 2014 Assembly polls from Narnaund (Hisar) but could not retain his seat in 2019 Assembly elections. He faced defeat at the hand of JJP nominee Ram Kumar Gautam. Abhimanyu has also unsuccessfully contes ed from the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat,” he added.

A BJP leader in Kurukshetra claimed the party intended to field either former MP Naveen Jindal or a family member from Kurukshetra, but at present, he is not keen and efforts are underway to convince him.

“If he doesn’t accept the offer then the party may finalise the name of any local leader belonging to the Saini, Rod or Punjabi community. However, the name of a Sikh Jatt leader is also being discussed keeping in view a considerable number of Sikh and Jat votes in the constituency,” he added.