Adampur by-election: Even after decades, clans of Devi Lal, Bansi Lal fail to break Bhajan Lal family's victory streak in Haryana

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, October 11

The family bastion of Bhajan Lal in Adampur Assembly segment remained loyal even though family members of the other two Lals – Devi Lal and Bansi Lal – had tried their luck against him.

Haryana has dominance of the three Lals since the 1960s. Their rivalry started when Haryana was carved out of Punjab as a separate state in 1966. The political careers of the respective leaders started almost simultaneously.

The old timers in politics recalled that Bhajan Lal contested the first Assembly election from Adampur in 1968 as a Congress leader. Earlier, he had been the sarpanch of Adampur village and later served as the chairman of Panchayat Samiti.

Significantly, Bansi Lal became the chief minister after Assembly polls in 1968 and Bhajan Lal served as his minister.

Bhajan Lal was challenged in 1972 when Devi Lal contested as an independent candidate. But the former secured 60.5 per cent votes and won by a margin of 10,961 votes.

Later, Bansi Lal had to make an exit from the Congress when the party opted for Bhajan Lal after the 1991 Assembly polls and formed the regional outfit Haryana Vikas Party (HVP). Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh fought against Bhajan Lal on the HVP ticket. But Bhajan Lal won by nearly 20,000 votes while Surender came second.

Devi Lal’s son Ranjit Singh Chautala too, tried his luck on the Congress’s ticket in 2008 by-election when Bhajan Lal had left the Congress and formed his own outfit – Haryana Janhit Congress. But Bhajan Lal emerged victorious despite all attempts by the then Congress government and secured an easy victory by nearly 26,000 votes.

Political commentator Pawan Kumar Bansal said there was no love lost among the three leaders during their entire political career. “Even though, both Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal were in Congress, Haryana Congress was ridden with factionalism,” he said.

“The electorate of Adampur considered Devi Lal and Bansi Lal as outsiders who came to pin down their arch rival Bhajan Lal who happened to be the local leader. Coincidentally, no local political face could emerge in Adampur in nearly five decades who could challenge the political might of the Bhajan Lal family,” he said adding that the Bhajan Lal family has kept the Adampur Assembly segment on priority of their electoral politics.

Lal’s rivalry in Adampur

1972

Bhajan Lal (Congress) 28,928 — 60.54 per cent

Devi Lal (IND) 17,967 — 37.6 per cent

1996

Bhajan Lal (Congress) 54,140 — 57.15 per cent

Surender Singh (HVP) 34,133 36.03 per cent

2008 by-election

Bhajan Lal (Haryana Janhit Congress BL) 56,841 — 49.36 per cent

Ranjit Singh (Congress) 30,653 — 26.62 per cent