Litmus test for BJP MLAs in Rohtak

ROHTAK: The Lok Sabha election on the Rohtak seat will be a litmus test for two ministers and two BJP legislators as the party high command is banking on them for mobilising support from their constituencies for party nominee Arvind Sharma, who is pitted against Congress MP Deepender Hooda, who is seeking re-election for the fourth time.

Prakash Dhankar

Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, April 17

The Lok Sabha election on the Rohtak seat will be a litmus test for two ministers and two BJP legislators as the party high command is banking on them for mobilising support from their constituencies for party nominee Arvind Sharma, who is pitted against Congress MP Deepender Hooda, who is seeking re-election for the fourth time.

The BJP had wrested four of the nine seats that fall in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency from the Congress in the 2014 Assembly elections. Manish Grover emerged victorious from Rohtak, Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli (Jhajjar), Naresh Kaushik from Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar) and Vikram Singh Yadav from Kosli (Rewari).

Dhankar is Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar Cabinet while Grover is serving as Minister of State for Cooperatives. Before Grover, Yadav had the charge of Cooperatives.

“Apart from Badli, Dhankar has been tasked to muster support for Arvind in Beri and Jhajjar Assembly segments too while Grover has been asked to concentrate on the Kalanaur segment and Rohtak. Kaushik and Yadav will look after the electioneering in their constituencies. Besides them, Shamsher Kharkara and Balraj Kundu in Meham and Dharambir Hooda in Kiloi will carry out the poll campaign,” said sources. The sources maintained that the LSpoll would provide the BJP leaders an opportunity to assess their popularity in their constituencies.

“The performance of the leaders will also be considered by the party high command while allotting ticket for the Assembly elections due in October. Hence, the Lok Sabha poll is an acid test for the sitting BJP MLAs and ticket aspirants,” said the sources.

The Assembly poll took place around six months after the LS elections in 2014. Deepender Hooda defeated BJP nominee Om Prakash Dhankar by a margin of 1,70,627 and took the lead in seven of the nine Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency.

LS seat constitutes nine Assembly segments

The Rohtak parliamentary constituency comprises nine Assembly segments: Rohtak, Garhi Sampla Kiloi, Kalanaur and Meham Assembly segments of Rohtak district, Jhajjar, Badli, Bahadurgarh and Beri segment of Jhajjar district and Kosli segment in Rewari district.
The BJP has its MLAs in Rohtak, Badli, Bahadurgarh and Kosli while rest of the five seats are being represented by the Congress.