Why has ticket allotment on the seats of 3 ministers of the then Manohar Lal Khattar cabinet been put on hold?
After the BJP declared its first list of candidates for 67 seats in assembly polls, focus has now shifted on remaining 23 seats, especially on the electoral fate of three ex-ministers and one sitting minister who have worked in the then BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar. Rohtak, Bawal (Rewari), Narnaul and Mahendragarh are among those 23 seats where ticket allotment has been put on hold.
Senior BJP leader Manish Grover, a close aide of Khattar, is a strong contender for the party ticket from Rohtak, while BJP veteran leader and former state president Ram Bilas Sharma from Mahendragarh, former minister Om Prakash Yadav from Narnaul and Public Health Engineering Minister Banwari Lal are vying for the party ticket from Bawal.
“Eminent cardiologist Aditya Batra is giving a tough fight to Grover in the fray for the BJP ticket in Rohtak. Local RSS leaders are backing Batra and interested to field him in this Punjabi-dominated assembly constituency citing a new face and clean image, while Khattar is in favour of Grover who has been the BJP’s face here for the past five assembly elections. Former Cooperative Minister Grover faced defeat at the hand of Congress’ Bharat Bhushan Batra by a margin of 2,735 votes in the 2019 assembly polls,” the BJP said.
Putting the ticket of Ram Bilas Sharma on hold has left everyone surprised as he has been quite active in Mahendragarh constituency since losing the previous electoral battle in 2019 at the hand of Congress’s Rao Daan Singh by a margin of 10,222 votes.
“Mahendragarh is an Ahir dominated constituency. Hence, the party intends to allot the ticket keeping in view caste equations here to check the polarisation of Ahir voters in the election as it is believed that the Congress will either field Rao Dan Singh or his son Akshat Rao. The party is exploring any suitable Ahir face in Mahendragarh. If this happens, then Sharma may be shifted to Narnaul. However, a section of the party leaders is also in favour of pitting Sharma’s son Gautam in place of him keeping in view his age,” the sources said.
Sources claim the declaration of candidature for the Narnaul seat has been put on hold due to Mahendragarh. Any decision on this seat is likely to pave the way for the selection of the BJP candidate for adjoining Narnaul seat being at present represented by BJP MLA Om Prakash Yadav, who is loyalist of Khattar and influential Ahir leader Rao Inderjit Singh. However, the BJP is unlikely to ignore Rao’s choice for this seat as well, sources add.
Moreover, people of Saini community being in a good number in Narnaul too are mounting pressure on the BJP leaders to field any of their community leaders here. Sitting Chairperson Kamlesh Saini and former chairperson of Narnaul Municipal Council Bharti Saini are among strong contenders for the BJP ticket from there. Kamlesh had contested previous assembly polls as a JJP candidate and gave a tough fight to Om Prakash Yadav by securing 28,017 votes. Kamlesh later joined the BJP after quitting JJP.
As far as Bawal (Reserve) is concerned, the BJP is likely to field a candidate of Union minister Rao Inderjit’s choice keeping in view his clout in the region. Though Banwari Lal has also got the BJP ticket twice on the recommendation of Rao but this time, Sanjay Mehra is also vying for the ticket of saffron party from. It is being keenly observed that this time who will Rao recommend for the ticket.
