Hisar, September 26
For nearly decades, the three Lals — former Chief Ministers Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal — dominated the political sphere for three decades in Haryana. Though they are no more, their names still command respect that translates into votes for children and relatives.

This Assembly elections, 10 members of the three Lal families are in fray. This is the highest number of children and relatives from the Lal clan to battle it out simultaneously.

In the 2009 Assembly elections, eight members of the Lal clan were in fray, while in the 2005 Assembly poll, seven members of the Lal families contested. In 2000 and 1996 state poll, eight and six members of the Lal families battled it out, respectively.

None of the contestants have been in direct clash on any seat. They have been nominated by three political parties.

The towering Jat leader Devi Lal’s four members of family are contesting this time. His grandson Abhay Chautala (Ellenabad), granddaughter-in-law Naina Singh (Dabwali) and great grandson Dushyant Chautala (Uchana) are the INLD nominees, while Devi Lal’s youngest son Ranjit Singh (Rania) is contesting on the Congress ticket.

Bhajan Lal’s sons — Kuldeep Bishnoi, chief of HJC, and Chander Mohan — are contesting from Adampur and Nalwa, respectively. Bishnoi’s wife Renuka is in fray from Hansi. All three segments are in Hisar district.

Bansi Lal’s son Ranbir Mahendera, daughter-in-law (Surender Singh’s wife) Kiran Choudhry and son-in-law Sombir Singh are the Congress candidates from Badhra, Tosham and Lolaru segments in Bhiwani district, respectively.

Delhi-based author Pawan Kumar Bansal, who has written a book on the Lal troika, said: “The Lals established themselves as regional satraps and never hid their intentions to keep the power centre within their families. Their children and relatives have again entered the fray to retain hold over their traditional turfs.”

Chandigarh, September 26
The Director General (Expenditure) of the Election Commission of India, PK Dash, has given necessary directions to state officials to maintain record of expenditure being made by political parties and candidates for the Assembly elections.

Dash, who held a meeting with state Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad and electoral officials, police officials and nodal expenditure officials of all districts of the state through a videoconference from Delhi asked them to be vigilant about expenditure being made by the candidates.

He said the maximum limit of expenditure to be done by candidates in the Assembly elections is Rs 28 lakh.

He also directed them to keep a check on the purchase and distribution of liquor in an unauthorised manner and money being given to people to get favours. He said directions related to the elections should be publicised more with the help of media, so as to make people aware about voting. He directed the officials to keep record of expenditure made by the candidates during the elections in shadow registers so that a record could be maintained.

Dash directed the officials to constitute more rural-level awareness groups and ward-level awareness groups so as to spread message of ethical voting. He also directed them to upload the affidavits being given by candidates on the department’s website.

The Deputy Commissioners and police officials of all districts informed Dash about the arrangements being made by them for the poll.

HJCP chief Venod Sharma releases the list of candidates in Chandigarh on Friday

HJC releases second list

The HJC today announced the names of its remaining seven candidates. In its second list, the HJC had announced Vedpal Tanwar as the party’s nominee from Tosham, Anil Kaushik from Samalkha, Mehla Singh from Kallianwali, Rajni Ghera from Barkhal, Nirmal Bishnoi from Dabwali, Sushil Saini from Rohtak and Kuldeep Singh from Ellenabad.

Karnal, September 26
After learning a lesson from past alliance experiences, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi, gave the Assandh seat, from where his party’s candidate Zile Ram Sharma won the last Assembly election, to his alliance partner HJCP. Later, MLA Zile Ram Sharma deserted the HJC along with four other party MLAs and joined the Congress.

As per sources, Kuldeep did not insist for this seat and happily gave it to Venod Sharma. Sources said Kuldeep’s father and former chief minister Bhajan Lal had an attachment with Karnal as he was elected an MP from here. Kuldeep also wanted to contest from this seat. For the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, he had a tussle with his earlier alliance partner, BJP, during the Lok Sabha elections.

Rohtak, September 26
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has asserted that the Congress would form the government in the state for the third consecutive time.

Addressing a meeting of party workers and supporters after filing his nomination papers from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi Assembly constituency here today, Hooda sought public support to form a Congress government in the state.

The Chief Minister also accompanied Congress nominee from Rohtak Bharat Bhushan Batra and Kalanaur candidate Shakuntala Khatak, who filed their nominations today. Rajya Sabha member Shadi Lal Batra was present.

Taking a dig at the Opposition — the INLD and BJP — Hooda remarked that while the head of one party claimed to become Chief Minister and run government from Tihar jail, the other party had no chief ministerial candidate.

At the Jind rally yesterday, INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, who was undergoing a jail term in the JBT recruitment scam, had claimed to be sworn as the chief minister if the electorate gave a strong mandate to the party.

Striking a chord with local people, Hooda exhorted them to decide whether they wanted to retain the “chaudhar” of the state in Rohtak or not and act accordingly.

Sirsa, September 26
Sunil Jakhar, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, considers the Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar a politician from the breed of leaders of “fast-food culture” who always take shortcuts to success.

“Politics is a long race and not a sprint event,” said Jakhar. He said one could not reach the position of chief minister in a day. “It takes years of hard labour and dedication to reach there,” said the Punjab leader.

Jakhar, who was in Fatehabad to campaign for his cousin and Congress nominee Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, stated this when The Tribune sought his reaction on the reported conflict between Tanwar and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over the distribution of ticket.

The Punjab Congress leader, who represents the Abohar Assembly of the state, said the ruling party would form government in Haryana for the third time.

He said Haryana had made unprecedented development under Hooda and it would pay rich dividends. He said in contrast, the BJP government at the Centre had failed to honour commitments made to the people before the parliamentary poll.

“In merely 100 days of the NDA rule, labourers are worried whether schemes like MNREGA that brought prosperity for them will be allowed to continue and whether the Food Security Act that ensures two square meals for them will last,” he said.

Karnal, September 26
The revolt that erupted in the Congress after the allotment of tickets is still continuing as Sher Partap Sheri, a ticket aspirant from the Assandh Assembly seat, today filed his nomination as an Independent, from the segment.

Meanwhile, Pankaj Punia, former youth Congress state vice president and one of the ticket aspirants from the Assandh seat, today opened front against Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for ignoring ground-level workers.

Praising the working style of state president Ashok Tanwar, Punia said, “I am not leaving the party, but will oppose the Chief Minister and his candidates. I gave my precious time for upbringing the party, but it did not take care of me and other grassroots workers.”

Irate over the decision to give the ticket to Sumita Singh, MLA Karnal, Sher Partap Sheri, said, “The party has fielded an outsider candidate for the second time and neglected the local workers. I did a lot for the party, but it did not recognise my efforts. So with the consent of my supporters, I have decided to file my nomination.”

As per the political experts such rebellion and contesting of so many rebel Congress leaders could affect the party badly from the Assandh Assembly segment. — TNS

Jind, September 26
In what appears to be a major setback for the Congress in Jind, Kandela khap today announced to ban the entry of the party candidates in all its 28 villages to protest the denial of the party ticket to the khap’s president.

The khap has called a mahapanchayat in Dalamwala village on September 30 to announce its final decision to extend their support for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

“With the support of all villagers, we have decided to boycott the Congress candidate from Jind, Pramod Sehwag. All our 28 villages will boycott him as the Congress gave a ticket to him and ignoring me for no reason,” said khap president, Tek Ram Kandela, after the meeting. “The Kandela khap has asked its four senior leaders to file their nomination papers tomorrow. We will finalise the name of our candidate during the mahapanchayat on September 30,” said Kandela.

Though there are other khaps in Jind constituency such as Nogama, Khera and Barah, but their influence is only on a few villages as a majority of villages fall under other constituencies.

Kandela is the biggest khap in the constituency, which has an influence over 28 villages.

When Congress candidate, Pramod Sehwag, was contacted, he said he had been selected by the party, but some other ticket aspirants were spreading false rumours against him. “I have the support of all sarpanches in Jind as I have been active in the constituency from the last few years. There is no question of a boycott,” said Sehwag.

New Delhi, September 26
In a strange turn of events related to its Haryana list, the Congress today cancelled the ticket allotted earlier to a nominee of the All-India Mahila Congress, the party’s frontal organisation directly under the control and supervision of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

Amritkalan Tikania, whose candidature from Bawal (reserve) segment in Rewari district was approved in the official Congress list was today replaced as party candidate on grounds that there were criminal cases pending against her and her husband. Former minister Jaswant Singh was named as her replacement in the first review of the Congress list on Haryana this evening.

The charge against Kalan, a two-term corporator from Rewari, is, however, learnt to have been firmly denied by Mahila Congress President Shobha Oza, who conveyed her reservations to party leaders over the denial of ticket to Kalan and maintained that Kalan was a winnable candidate.

Leaders involved with ticket distribution in Haryana, however ,said they learnt of the criminal record Kalan and her husband only yesterday and that the docket of the candidate sent by the Mahila Congress didn’t mention her criminal antecedents.

The Mahila Congress, however, denied the charges. It is learnt that Oza contested the denial of ticket to Kalan till the end. Sources in the Mahila Congress said excuses were being made since the announcement of the list to replace Kalan with Jaswant Singh, who had the backing of a senior state leader.

“If Kalan had criminal cases against her, could she be serving as a corporator. She won the corporation elections in 2005 and again last year,” said Mahila Congress sources.

The Tribune has learnt that the Mahila Congress was first told that Kalan was not a winnable candidate and later told that she did not have enough money to contest the elections. The Mahila Congress contested the first charge of non-winnability, saying the candidate had to be first fielded to judge if she was a winnable nominee.

In the original list of Congress candidates for Haryana, there were 11 women candidates, including only two from the Mahila Congress. Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly promising a larger presence to women in the Congress. Now of the two Mahila Congress nominees in the party list, one has lost her ticket.

Kurukshetra, September 26
It was a day of U-turns and nominations in Kurukshetra today. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) got a shot in the arm when Kurukshetra Zila Parishad chairman Praveen Chaudhary took a U-turn and extended his support back to the INLD.

Chaudhary, an INLD supporter, had made an announcement of contesting the Assembly elections from Thanesar Assembly constituency. The Ror community had selected him as its representative for the Assembly elections.

He was supposed to file his nomination today, but called a meeting of the Ror community members at Ror Dharmashala and made the announcement. Sources said Abhay Chautala, who had reached here last evening, persuaded Chaudhary and also assured him a bigger post if the party came to power.

Chaudhary said, “The Ror Community selected me as its representative; today we had a meeting and decided to support state INLD chief and candidate from Thanesar Ashok Arora.”

Similarly, former Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) youth wing state general secretary Ashok Sharma and his brother and Pawan Pehlwan, party’s working committee member, who had quit the party with their supporters a couple of days ago extended their support to INLD.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, September 26
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Sanjeev Baliyan today joined issue with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over his statement holding the Centre responsible for the fall in the purchase price of basmati in Haryana.

Baliyan, who was in Sirsa and Fatehabad today in connection with the filing of nomination papers by BJP candidates Sunita Setia and Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, respectively, was responding to Hooda’s statement in this regard during his speech in Fatehabad .

Hooda had alleged during his speech at Fatehabad yesterday that the BJP was a party of elite and the rich, with no concern for the sufferings of the poor and the farming class.

Hooda had said that PUSA 1121 basmati crop of farmers that fetched Rs 3500 per quintal was selling for Rs 2,500 per quintal this year due to the ‘anti-farmers’ policies of the Modi government.

Baliyan said even the export price of basmati had increased from Rs 72,000 per MT last year to Rs 81,000 MT this year, which further falsified Hooda’s allegations.

The minister alleged that the actual cause of the fall in the prices of basmati paddy in Haryana lay somewhere else but the Haryana CM was not only trying to cover up his government’s own failure to stop middlemen but was trying to make an issue just to overcome his frustration arising out of the worst defeat his party was likely to face in the assembly elections this time. He said Hooda should better keep watch on the cartel operating under his government’s nose which was denying the farmers their due. 

Pundri, September 26
No political party has managed to win the Pundri Assembly constituency since 1996.

It was in the 1991 elections when Ishwar Singh had won it for the Congress and after that it's the hunting grounds of Independent candidates.

This seat was vacated in August after the resignation of the incumbent MLA and ex- Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sultan Singh Jadaula who had defeated Congress candidate Dinesh Kaushik by 4,051 votes.

In the 2009 Assembly elections, Sultan polled 38,929 votes against 34,878 bagged by Dinesh Kaushik while INLD's Sajjan Singh trailed at third place by 23,690 votes.

For some reason, the votes here have favoured Independents who won this seat five times since 1967. The Congress won four times while the JNP and LKD once each.

Comprising 1.65 lakh voters in this constituency, over 44,000 are Ror's while Jat's and Brahmins are around 22,000 and 18,000, respectively, and other communities are in the range of 5,000-10,000.

Being a Ror dominated seat, all the big political parties have fielded Ror candidates here.

People of this constituency have never been kind to the BJP in the Assembly elections as it never won this seat. This was evident in the 2009 elections when its candidate ended at sixth place with just 1,906 votes.

However, the Modi wave gave a boost to the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Out of the 1,19,436 votes, the BJP candidate Raj Kumar Saini polled 53,628 votes, the INLD candidate Balbir Saini got 29,045 votes, the Congress candidate Naveen Jindal polled 21,037 votes while the BSP candidate Chatar Singh got 10,004 votes.

Jadaula had recently joined the BJP but failed to get the ticket. He will not contest the assembly election and is seeking votes for BJP candidate. The previous runner up Dinesh Kaushik will contest as an Independent.

He says record development took place during his tenure. The pace of development was slow over the last one- and-a half years but in the first part many works were carried out. I am not in the fray but will work for the success of the official candidate.

Kaushik counters it and said that Jadaula failed to bring any major project. The roads are in bad shape. The CHCs lack facilities and staff and the patients have to go to Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Karnal for treatment. The sewerage system needs immediate attention and is a cause of harassment to the people.

Total voters: 1,64,947
Men: 89,642
Women: 75,305

Residents of the Indri Assembly segment face flood every year during monsoon. Tribune file photo: Ravi Kumar

Indri, September 26
A majority of the area in this segment runs parallel to the Yamuna, but besides being a lifeline it becomes a nightmare for the residents due to flooding during the monsoons.

Crops on thousands of acres are damaged every year in the absence of flood protection measures by the government.

Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Garhibirbal village, no preventive measures had been taken by the authorities to check flooding. It seems that they do not want to prevent the damage, he said.

Some years ago the floods were so devastating that not only crop, but roads, houses and the livestock were all washed away, he said.

Local issues and the caste factor hold the key in the upcoming elections.

Gourav Kumar of Ghir village said that the potholed roads were the pointer to the ground reality of development in this segment. Despite raising this issue several times, no action has been taken, he asserted.

The residents have been demanding an ITI, a polytechnic, a girl's college, upgrading the hospital, employment for the youth, re-carpeting the roads, but successive governments have neglected their demands, he alleged.

The project of widening the highway from Karnal to Yamunanagar has been pending for a long time. It is a busy route since it connects Karnal, Kurukshetra Yamunanagar with many districts of UP but the narrow road leads to a large numbers of accidents every month, Raman Kumar Bansal, a trader of Indri said.

Of the 11 elections so far, the Congress has won four times, the Lok Dal and Independents have won twice each, while the Janta Party, Haryana Vikas Party and INLD have won the seat once each. The BJP is yet to open its account from here.

Parsanni Devi of the Congress had scored a hat-trick by winning in 1967, 1968 and 1972. In 1977, Des Raj of the Janta Party won in 1982 while Lakshman Singh of the LKD won in 1987. Janki Devi of HVP won in 1991.

Later, in 1996 and 2000 an Independent candidate Bhim Sen Mehta had won. In 2005, Rakesh Kamboj of the Congress and in 2009 Ashok Kashyap of the INLD had won.

Mehta says If Kashyap had approached the CM he could all the problems solved earlier. I brought many grants by requesting the government

Total voters: 1,72,528
Men: 93,081
Women: 79,447

New Delhi, September 26
The BJP will make an aggressive pitch to woo the Jat community during its poll campaign in Haryana to present itself as a credible alternative to the Congress.

Also, the resurgent saffron party hopes to squeeze the political space of the INLD by making a dent among the Jat voters who have traditionally remained indifferent to it, barring the last Lok Sabha elections. The INLD banks on the Jats in its political calculus.

A BJP central leader and co-incharge of party affairs in Haryana, Anil Jain, told The Tribune that his party had consciously tried to shed its anti-Jat image. “The BJP has inducted prominent Jat leaders from across the state, especially since the run up to the last Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

The BJP’s move to garner Jat support is grounded in pragmatism following its analysis of the results of the Lok Sabh elections in the state. It secured a lead in 52 Assembly segments and stood second in nearly 15 out of the 72 constituencies in the eight Lok Sabha seats where it fielded its nominees. It had left the two remaining Lok Sabha seats to its then ally, the HJC.

The analysis brought out that the party lost in majority of the Assembly segments dominated by Jats. The perception is that the Jats dominate nearly 35 out of the 90 Assembly seats in the state. The community sets the political trend in Haryana.

According to many, the BJP’s pro-Jat policy also stems from its wariness on the “popularity” of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda among the Jats. Hooda, who will be leading the Congress’ charge in the elections, was instrumental in majority of the Jats shifting their loyalty to the Congress from the INLD, besides expanding his party’s social base among other sections of society.

Gharaunda, September 26
Attacking the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led state government for widespread corruption and discrimination within the state, State Railway Minister Manoj Sinha today promised good governance in the state after coming to power.

He said the BJP would provide jobs to the youth without any discrimination and would also develop the entire state. — TNS

Rewari, September 26
To woo the migrant workers ahead of the state Assembly elections, former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi will come to Rewari to address poll meetings in favour of Haryana Irrigation Minister and Congress nominee from Rewari Capt Ajay Singh Yadav.

Being an industrial centre, Rewari is home to a significant number of migrant labourers from states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. As per estimates, there are over 10,000 migrants who are registered as voters in the Rewari Assembly segment, which is why political parties are making all efforts to woo them. “Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi are coming to Rewari ton October 5 to seek votes for me. Since Lalu is a mass leader, his visit will give a boost to my campaign,” said Capt Yadav, whose son Chiranjeev Rao is Lalu’s son-in-law.