Eye on Sikh votes before poll, BJP may send Bittu to RS from Haryana
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 31
The name of Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Ravneet Singh Bittu is doing the rounds as the probable BJP candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana.
Why Bittu?
- BJP looking to woo Sikh voters ahead of Assembly poll
- Wants to cash in on legacy of Bittu’s grandfather and Punjab ex-CM Beant Singh
- He fits well into the BJP’s ‘national security’ narrative
Sources said Bittu’s candidature was being considered as the saffron party was eyeing the influential Sikh community votes in the Haryana Assembly elections.
Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by militants in 1995. As the BJP does not have any prominent Sikh face in Haryana, the party is looking to bank on the Union Minister of State.
His nomination could also stem the criticism by Sikh outfits of giving them “inadequate” representation in Haryana. The Beant Singh assassination case also fit into the BJP’s “national security” narrative and Bittu’s Rajya Sabha nomination could prove to be a game-changer, said a senior party leader. Having lost the recent LS election from Ludhiana, Bittu has time till mid-December to get elected either to Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.
Besides Bittu, other senior leaders, including Ram Bilas Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar, Sanjay Bhatia, Manish Grover, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Sunita Duggal, too were in the contention, said sources. The seat fell vacant following the election of Deepender Hooda as the Lok Sabha MP from Rohtak. Tosham MLA Kiran Chaudhry, who recently quit the Congress to join the BJP, too was in the race, they said.
Currently, there is no Sikh minister in the Haryana Government as Sandeep Singh, the lone Sikh BJP MLA, was dropped from the Cabinet when Nayab Singh Saini took over as the CM on March 13. “Currently, we have an OBC CM, a Brahmin BJP president, besides adequate representation to other sections, including Jats, Aggarwals and Dalits in both the government and the organisation. Giving representation to Sikhs through Bittu can pay rich dividends in the Assembly poll,” the leader reasoned.
