26 sons, daughters of leaders in fray Gehlot gives green signal to Vaibhav to contest LS polls
FAITH IN FAMILY Congress leaders field 18 family members while the BJP has eight of them contesting the assembly elections, in an apparent bid to contain rebellion
Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have their luck riding on the sons and daughters of several of their respective leaders in the assembly election due on December 7.
The two parties have together fielded 26 candidates — the Congress 18 and the BJP 8 — to take forward the “legacy” of their leaders — some of whom were ineligible to contest while some wanted their family members to take the political plunge.
Party insiders anonymously mention that the move is also an attempt to contain rebellion from those who could not be accommodated in the candidates’ lists.
The Congress has fielded Divya Maderna, the daughter of Mahipal Maderna, who has been in jail since September 2011 in connection with the murder of 36-year-old auxillary nurse midwife Bhanwari Devi. Divya will contest the polls from Osian constituency, from where her father had won the 2008 polls and her mother Leela had unsuccessfully contested in 2013.
Another accused in the murder case and also behind bars, Malkhan Singh Bishnoi’s son Mahendra has been fielded from Luni constituency from where Malkhan was elected an MLA in 2008. Malkhan’s mother Amri Devi was the party’s candidate in 2013 but had lost.
The other such candidates contesting for the Congress include Virendra Choudhary (son of MLA Narayan Singh) from Dantaramgarh; Rafiq (son of 2013 runner-up Haji Maqbool Mandelia) from Churu; Danish Abrar
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(son of late Union minister Abrar Ahmed) from Sawai Madhopur; Kuldeep Indora (son of Hira Lal Indora) from Anupgarh; Prashant Sharma (son of Sehdev Sharma) from Amber; Prashant Bairwa (son of former MP Dwarka Prasad Bairwa) from Niwai; Gajendra Singh (son of Gulab Singh Shekhawat) from Vallabhnagar; Rita Choudhary (daughter of Ramnarayan Choudhary) from Mandawa, the seat she had unsuccessfully contested in 2013 as an independent; Vivek (son of Khemraj Katara) from Udaipur-Rural; Brijendra Ola (son ofSisram Ola)fromJhunjhunu; Bharat Singh (son of Jujhar Singh) from Sagod; Surendra (son of Bhikha Bhai) from Sagwara; Rohit Vohra (son of Pradhyuman Singh) from Rajakhera; Vidhyadhar Choudhary (son of Hari Singh) from Phulera; Vijaypal Mirdha (son of Richpal Mirdha) from Degana; and Sudhershan Singh Rawat (son of Laxman Singh) from Bhim.
The BJP’s next generation candidates are Shailesh (son of late Digamber Singh, the runner-up in the 2013 polls) from Deeg-Kumher; Ramswaroop Lamba (son of late MP Sanwar Lal Jat) from Nasirabad; Kailash Meghwal (son of Kaka Sunder Lal ) from Pilani; Hemant Meena (son of former minister Nandlal Meena) from Pratapgarh; Manjeet (son of Dharampal Choudhary) from Mundawar; Ram Vilas (son of Ram Sahay) from Lalsot; Rajendra (son of former MLA Kunjilal) from Bamanwas; and Gurveer Singh Brar (grandson of 2013 winner Gurjant Singh) from Sadulshahar.
BJP’s Nasirabad candidate Lamba had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha bypoll seat in Ajmer this February.
Speaking to HT, Shailesh, BJP candidate from Deeg-Kumher, said, “Being from a political family, one gets the advantage only up until the entry in politics.” Gurveer Singh Brar said while it could be easy to gain entry, “those who came from political families have to work hard to prove themselves”.
Youth Congress leader Prashant Bairwa, contesting from Niwai, said, “If you don’t work hard, then people will not accept you. One has to win their trust.”
: Former chief minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Ashok Gehlot indicated on Tuesday that his son, Vaibhav Gehlot, could contest the next election. He said he had been keeping Vaibhav “away from active politics” so far but now “there is no such restriction” from his end.
It is believed that Vaibhav could contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Sawai Madhopur parliamentary constituency. He had been in the running for a ticket in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, too.
“Vaibhav first wanted to contest the election of Youth Congress state president when I was the chief minister, but I refused. Subsequently, in 2009, Vaibhav got a proposal to contest from Sawai Madhopur in the Lok Sabha elections but I refused once again,” the senior Gehlot told reporters Tuesday before setting off on the campaign for the assembly election scheduled for December 7. The former chief minister is contesting from Sardarpura assembly constituency.
“At that time, many leaders, including then state president CP Joshi, wanted that (Vaibhav to contest) but our focus was on winning more and more seats. We did get the benefit of this eventually as the party won 20 out of 25 seats (in Rajasthan),” Gehlot said.
The former chief minister said “now it’s up to Vaibhav if he wants to contest elections”, and then added, “The party has to decide whether to make him a candidate or not. (But) I will not have any role in this,” he told reporters.
When asked about the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls, Gehlot said the party has “several candidates” for the post. “Our legislators and the high command (Congress’ central leadership) will decide who the chief minister will be,” he said, but listed names of Lalchand Kataria, Rameshwar Dudi, Sachin Pilot, CP Joshi, Girija Vyas and Raghu Sharma as “contenders for the post”.
When asked about rebellions and people who left the party after being denied a ticket to contest the polls, Gehlot said there were clear directions from party president Rahul Gandhi regarding the distribution of tickets, “and these have been followed”. “Youth and women have been given more representation. It is possible that many eligible and senior aspirants have not been able to get the ticket but efforts will be made to persuade everyone (to stay with the Congress) before November 22”, he said.
Gehlot added that Gandhi’s orders have been to give “important responsibilities in the organisation” to “eligible aspirants who didn’t get the ticket”.
PANCHKULA:A JODHPUR