Congress declares 7 out of 8 seats in Rohtak and Jhajjar, but puts Meham on hold

The Congress has declared seven out of eight seats in the Rohtak and Jhajjar districts, but put Meham seat on hold, reportedly keeping in view heavy lobbying by ticket aspirants.

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• BJP has fielded former Indian kabaddi team skipper Deepak Niwas Hooda from the seat while the Cong veteran leader Anand Singh Dangi wants his son Balram Dangi to contest poll this time.
• The BJP has put its candidate on hold for the Rohtak seat which is, at present, represented by Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra. The Congress has retained Batra for the seat.

Congress senior leader Anand Singh Dangi, a four-time MLA, has faced defeat at the hands of Independent candidate Balraj Kundu in theAssembly elections held in 2019. He has not applied for the Congress ticket this time as he wants his son Balram Dangi to contest Assembly polls from Meham in place of him but the Congress leadership, as being claimed by the sources, is in favour of Anand entering the fray again.

Interestingly, both prominent parties — the Congress and the BJP — have not announced their candidates on one out of the four seats in their first list of nominees for the Assembly polls.

Three days ago, the BJP had declared its nominees for 67 seats but put announcement of its candidate on hold for the Rohtak seat which is, at present, represented by Congress MLA and party chief whip Bharat Bhushan Batra. The Congress has retained Batra for Rohtak.

Meham has become a hot seat after the BJP fielded former Indian kabaddi team skipper Deepak Niwas Hooda from there. It will be his debut election. He is married to international boxing player Saweety Boora. Sitting MLA Balraj Kundu has already announced his candidature this time under the banner of his own party.

As far as the Congress is concerned, 28 aspirants have applied for the ticket from Meham. They are Balram Dangi, Ch Devi Lal University Professors Manoj Siwach and Geeta Rani, MDU Teachers’ Association president Vikas Siwach, retired college teacher Mahipal Singh Gill and Akhil Bhartiya Adarsh Jat Mahasabha national spokesman Deepak Rathi, among others. Some of the ticket aspirants are organising panchayats in their village concerned to mount pressure on the Congress leadership to field them.

“The Congress candidate is likely to be from the Dangi family,” said a Congress leader.