Arti Rao won’t fight from Rewari, weighs Kosli, Ateli, Badshahpur
Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Gurugram, August 12
Out to shrug off the tag of nepo princess and prove her mettle, Arti Rao, daughter of veteran BJP MP and Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh, will test the political waters in the upcoming Assembly elections.
“Denied a ticket from Rewari twice by the BJP in 2014 and 2019, the political heir of Ahir power centre ‘Rampura House’, Arti has ditched the segment and launched a survey among her supporters to finalise her launch pad among Ahir strongholds of Ateli in Mahendragarh, Kosli in Rewari, and Badshahpur in Gurugram district. The three Assembly segments have a majority of Ahir voters and Rao Inderjit Singh enjoys a massive influence here.
“I have been trying to get the ticket from BJP since 2014. My journey has been from the shooting range to political arena and I toiled for 10 long years as a worker to be election-ready but sadly people just want to talk about political lineage rather than my sports or political achievements. I am fighting it out to break that. I regard my family’s political lineage as a great asset but that doesn’t sum up my political work or achievements. I have engaged my supporters to assess the ground situation and suggest which is going to be the best place to contest, though Kosli is the closest to my heart as I grew up there,” said Arti while speaking to The Tribune.
As per political experts, Rewari will not be a great launch pad for her. Though Rao Inderjit Singh has always led from this segment in all his Lok Sabha elections, his rival and Congress leader Capt Ajay Singh Yadav also enjoys a massive influence and has been a six-time MLA from there. The seat is currently held by his son Rao Chiranjeev.
Rewari is currently seeing a massive infighting in the BJP and has active anti-Inderjit factions led by former MLA Randhir Kapriwas. It was Kapriwas’s candidature in 2019 that divided votes for Rao’s supported candidate and handed out a close win to Chiranjeev.
Arti’s launch pad is one of the most-watched political debuts in the Vidhan Sabha elections. Having been denied the ticket twice, citing ‘one family one ticket’ principle by the BJP, she is in no mood to wait any longer and has already announced her plans to contest with or without BJP.
Arti is an international-level skeet shooter and has four Asian Championship medals. She is the current president of the Haryana Para Sports Association. She is the granddaughter of former Haryana CM Rao Birender Singh and descendant of Ahir king and freedom fighter Rao Tula Ram Singh. Rao Inderjit Singh’s brother Yaduvendra Singh has also represented Kosli Assembly segment in the past.
Supporters assessing ground situation
I regard my family’s political lineage as a great asset but that doesn’t sum up my political work or achievements. I have engaged my supporters to assess the ground situation and suggest the best place to contest. — Arti Rao, Rao Inderjit Singh’s daughter
