Keen contest between Olympian wrestler and five-time MLA
BARODA: During his wrestling days whenever Yogeshwar Dutt, 36, used to return with an international medal, public reception at his village, Bhainswal Kalan, would be massive. Then, the 2012 London Olympics made him a household name in Sonepat, after the freestyle wrestler won a Bronze in the 60 kilo category. The following year, he won a gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling championships.
Dutt’s popularity in a region known as the nursery of Indian wrestling made him obvious choice for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They hope that he will put an end to the juggernaut of Congress stalwart Sri Krishan Hooda, 74, in the Jat-dominated Baroda seat.
If Dutt hopes that his popularity will allow him an inroad in all the 54 villages of the constituency — almost every one of them has an akhada , or a wrestling centre — Hooda, a two-time member of the legislative assembly from Baroda, is confident that the development work during the Congress regime (2009-14) will help him achieve a hat-trick win. Hooda, five-time MLA, was earlier elected to the assembly from Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi seat. In 2009, he moved to Baroda, which was earlier a reserved seat.
“The love and support I am getting from the people is unimaginable... People are happy with the development work that took place during the Khattar (Manhoar Lal Kahattar) government and we (BJP) are going to win,” said Dutt. “Everyone knows in the last five years, all the government jobs were given on merit and, if BJP comes to power, you don’t need to have any connection or money power to get jobs,” he Dutt said at a public gathering in Mundlana.
Both the Congress and the Janayak Janta Party have fielded Jat candidates, which may lead to a division of Jat votes. By fielding Dutt, a Brahmin candidate, the local unit of the BJP is hopeful that he will consolidate the non-Jat votes. “There is no division on cast lines in Baroda and earlier also I got votes across the caste and this time too I am sure that we will get votes from every caste. Congress has a reputation of taking along everyone and this will be a strong factor that goes in my favour,” Hooda said.
Pampa Mukherjee, Chandigarh-based political scientist and professor at the department of Political Science, Panjab University, said: “As far as Haryana is concerned in public imaginary sports and Haryana goes together... sportspersons in the state have a larger than life image. In democratic politics, voting is linked to your image, so on that front, sportspersons contesting elections have an edge.”