Karnal, March 19
Chander Mohan, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, today withdrew his candidature for the election to the Karnal parliamentary constituency. The party had announced his name yesterday for the seat.

Chander Mohan said that a group of Brahmin leaders had called him up and said that his father, former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, had promised them in the last parliamentary election that the party ticket to the seat would go to a Brahmin leader. He said that the candidate from Karnal would be a Brahmin.

The name of Avinash Paliwal, an industrialist from Panipat, is doing the rounds. Experts said Chander Mohan has withdrawn as HJC’s alliance partner BJP is keen to contest from Karnal.