Supporters of Rao Inderjit Singh upset over Abhay Yadav’s elevation as minister

Ravinder Saini

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Mahendragarh, March 19

The elevation of Nangal Choudhary MLA Abhay Singh Yadav as a minister has come as a shocker for the faction of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh as Yadav belongs to anti-Rao camp in Ahirwal, comprising Mahendragarh and Rewari districts.

Interestingly, Yadav has replaced Narnaul MLA Om Prakash Yadav, a staunch loyalist of Rao, who served as Social Justice and Empowerment Minister in the Khattar Cabinet but was dropped when Nayab Singh Saini took over as the Chief Minister.

Bureaucrat-turned-politician Yadav is second-time MLA from Nangal Choudhary on the BJP ticket. He was also one of the strong contenders for the party ticket for Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat. Yadav had also organised a successful rally at Dongra Ahir village of neighbouring Ateli Assembly segment in December last year to show his strength.

A distressed supporter of Rao Inderjit said the non-inclusion of Om Prakash Yadav in the Cabinet not only brought a major setback for them but it also was an indication that the anti-Rao faction was dominating in the present regime.

Ahirwal had played a vital role in the formation of the BJP government in the state in both 2014 and 2019 elections. The BJP has, at present, four Ahir MLAs in Mahendragarh and Rewari districts.

“This time, the Yadav community was expecting two Cabinet berths for their MLAs — one from Mahendragarh and another from Kosli (Rewari). Kosli is a part of Rohtak parliamentary constituency, which proved instrumental in the victory of BJP candidate Dr Arvind Sharma in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as he got a massive lead of 74,980 votes from Kosli over the Congress nominee Deepender Hooda,” said a local Ahir leader.

He said winning the Rohtak seat had again become a prestige issue for the Congress, especially for former CM Bhupinder Hooda, as his son Deepender Hooda would contest the elections from there. The BJP might have gained good political mileage in Kosli this time too in the Lok Sabha elections by elevating Kosli MLA to the minister but it missed the opportunity, he added.

On the other hand, a senior BJP leader said since Bawal (Rewari) MLA Banwari Lal had already been retained as Cabinet minister there was no logic to install another MLA as minister from Rewari district. Moreover, Nayab Singh Saini too belongs to the OBC.