Maneka from Karnal? Ball in Modi-Shah court

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 19

A surprise may be in store for the voters of Karnal Lok Sabha segment this election season.

News is that Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, the seven-time BJP member from Pilibhit, is open to contesting from Karnal constituency should the party leadership endorse her shift out of Uttar Pradesh.

Maneka Gandhi has family roots in Karnal where her maternal grandfather Sardar Datar Singh settled after he moved out of Pakistan to India post Partition.

A pioneer of dairy farming and research, Sardar Datar Singh is credited with leading India’s earliest dairy farm movements while being settled in Karnal. This early experiment with cooperative dairy farming later went on to inspire the Amul movement and many others. One of India’s pure cattle breeds,  Sahiwal, derives its name from the Sahiwal village in Pakistan’s Montgomery, which was the ancestral place of Sardar Datar Singh.

Maneka Gandhi is still learnt to have family in Karnal where her grandfather settled down in a property the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan gave him when he crossed the border to live in India.

Sources close to Maneka Gandhi say she is no outsider to Karnal and has relatives residing there even today.

The BJP too is looking for a candidate in the segment currently represented in Lok Sabha by Ashwani Minna of the Punjab Kesri group. Minna’s recent pro-Congress and pro-Priyanka Gandhi Vadra articles in Punjab Kesri have not been appreciated by the BJP leadership, which has made Congress’ dynastic politics a major poll issue.

With the BJP hunting for a face in Karnal and Maneka said to be ready to shift, the party may opt for change. A decision has, however, not been taken and the ball is in the court of BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who would have to weigh other things too, including who will fight Pilibhit should Maneka shift out.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the sitting BJP MLA from Karnal, is meanwhile learnt to be open to Maneka Gandhi’s candidature from Karnal LS seat though the official word on this matter has not been said.

The Tribune has learnt that in case Maneka shifts to Karnal, her son Varun Sanjay Gandhi could contest from his mother’s Pilibhit seat.

Pilibhit, which Maneka has represented for seven terms is well nursed and is considered among the safer seats for BJP in Uttar Pradesh where the recently struck BSP-SP alliance, is posing fresh challenges for all political parties.

In the changed scenario, Varun Gandhi’s current segment Sultanpur in UP may no longer be easy for the BJP like it was at the height of the Modi wave in 2014 when Varun won the seat by a margin of a little over one lakh votes.

Sultanpur LS segment is dominated by Muslims, Yadavs and Scheduled Castes, a combination that tilts local equations in favour of the BSP-SP combine. Will the BJP take its chances with the non-Congress Gandhis or let them change their seats remains to be seen.

‘I am no outsider’

• Maneka Gandhi says she is no outsider to Haryana and has relatives residing there even today. She has her family roots in Karnal where her maternal great grandfather Sardar Datar Singh settled after he moved out of Pakistan to India post Partition
• A pioneer of dairy farming and research, Sardar Datar Singh is credited with leading India’s earliest dairy farm movements while being settled in Karnal