FAMILY CARD PLAYS OUT IN CONG, BJP NOT FAR BEHIND
CHANDIGARH : Kinship seems to have played a role in the distribution of tickets by all major political parties for the Haryana assembly elections to be held on October 21.
The pedigree factor is more prominent in the Congress ticket distribution with kith and kin of as many as 10 former MLAs or party leaders getting nominations. The ruling BJP though was not far behind the Congress with six tickets, the saffron party was behaved in a more conservative manner.
In fact, Union minister and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, who was lobbying for an assembly nomination for his daughter Arti Singh Rao, a member of the BJP state executive, was forced to reconcile with a denial of ticket to her by the party high command. The minister was keen on initiating the political career of his daughter this time.
The six BJP aspirants who got assembly tickets on the basis of kinship are Prem Lata (Uchana Kalan), wife of Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh and mother of Lok Sabha MP Brijendra Singh; Aditya Devilal (Dabwali), grandson of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal; Sanjay Singh (Sohna), son of former minister Suraj Pal; Sudhir Singla (Gurugram), son of former minister Sita Ram Singla and Krishan Middha, son of former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislator HC Middha.
The 10 Congress nominees who got party tickets because of their pedigree are Shalley Gurjar (Naraingarh), wife of former MLA Ram Kishan Gurjar; Varun Chaudhary (Mullana), son of former minister Phool Chand Mullana; Mandeep Chatha (Pehowa), son of former minister HS Chatha; Anshul Singla (Jind), son of ex-minister Brij Mohan Singla; Amit Sihag (Dabwali), son of KV Singh, former officer of special duty (OSD) to then CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda; Rao Arjun Singh (Ateli), son of senior leader Rao Ajit Singh; Chiranjeev Rao (Rewari), son of ex-minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav; Mohammad Israil (Hathin), son of former MLA Jaleb Khan; Neeraj Sharma (Faridabad NIT), son of ex-minister Shiv Charan Lal Sharma and Vijay Pratap Singh (Badhkal), son of former minister Mahender Pratap Singh.