In advertising parley, one of the Unique Selling Points (USP) of the Bharatiya Janata Part (BJP) has been that it is a cadre-based party where a normal cadre can aim to reach the top spot. In recent history, like after Chhattisgarh election win, the BJP has also demonstrated this by making Vishnu Deo Sai — who started his political innings as a Panch of Bagiya Gram Panchayat in undivided Madhya Pradesh — the Chief Minister. This has been the key differentiator between the BJP and other parties that the BJP has consistently called ‘parivaarvadi’ or ‘dynastic’.
But in the Haryana assembly election, with many of its senior leaders seeking tickets for their family members, the BJP is faced with a tough question — to allow tickets and increase BJP’s winnability on that seat or refuse tickets and face non-cooperation. Top sources have said the BJP is willing to blink this time.
According to sources, this matter featured in the recent two-day-long Gurugram huddle of the state BJP where leadership including Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar were present.
One of the key names is Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh who wants a BJP ticket for his daughter Aarti Rao who has already announced her decision to contest this election with or without a BJP ticket. So much so, since July, Arti Singh Rao had started laying the groundwork to contest the Haryana Assembly elections, “either for BJP or as an Independent”. Otherwise a political novice, she has been active in her father’s campaigns since 2009. This is not the first time the Union Minister has sought a ticket for his daughter. Both in the 2014 and in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he sought a ticket for her but failed to get one. But it seems, a decision has been made that she will fight against the BJP candidate, if need be.
Another Union Minister, Krishan Pal Gujjar, has also sought a ticket for his son Devender Chaudhary. The minister’s son has been making his attempts at entering politics by becoming senior Deputy Mayor of Faridabad. But now, the union Power Minister wants his son to enter the bigger political arena.
Even turncoats who recently joined the BJP are not missing out. Industrialist and BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, who switched to the saffron fold in March this year, has expressed the desire to the BJP leadership that he wants a ticket for his mother Savitri Jindal — also a former minister. She is also the chairperson emerita of the OP Jindal Group and entered electoral politics in 2005, representing Hisar in Haryana Assembly.
BJP MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Dharambir Singh, too, wants a ticket for his son to contest the assembly poll. Singh has already announced that he won’t fight the election again and the 2024 Parliamentary election was his last, citing age. He wants the BJP to accommodate his son, in view of that. What makes it complicated for the BJP is he was sulking for a long time after he failed to secure a place in Modi’s cabinet. Now, if the BJP refuses to field his son, BJP may have to face a tough time in the area.
Former Congress leader and now BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Kiran Choudhry — touted as a ‘big catch’ by the party ahead of the Haryana election — too is keen on a ticket for her daughter Shruti. Shruti is no political novice. She held the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat when she won in 2009 which is now represented by Dharambir Singh. Kiran Choudhry is the daughter-in-law of Bansi Lal — a three-time Haryana Chief Minister, and the patriarch of one of the state’s very influential political clans.
The BJP is now weighing its options purely on the basis of winnability, sources said, for which ‘parivarvaad’ may not be an issue, this time as an aberration.
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