BJP, Cong star campaigners include son, cousin, sister of rival candidates

The list of the star campaigners of the BJP and the Congress has some surprising names from Haryana who will campaign for the candidates of the respective parties across the state in the upcoming elections.

The BJP’s list of 40 campaigners includes Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, son of Independent candidate from Hisar Assembly constituency Savitri Jindal. The mother and son have a good understanding and both of them had shared the stage on the BJP platform when the party nominated Naveen Jindal as the candidate in the Lok Sabha polls.

A former minister in the Hooda-led Congress government, Savitri Jindal faced defeat in the 2014 elections and skipped next polls in 2019. However, she joined the BJP along with her son Naveen recently and was an aspirant for the BJP ticket.

However, as she was denied the ticket, she announced that she would join the fray as an Independent and declared that it was her last election. “I want to serve the people of my city. There is a huge pressure from my followers to contest the poll. So I have decided to agree with them and joined the fray,” she said.

Queer equations

• MP Naveen Jindal to campaign for BJP, while his mother Savitri is an Independent nominee
• Vinesh Phogat of the Congress and Babita Phogat of the BJP are cousins. Vinesh is the Congress candidate from the Julana segment in Jind district, while the BJP has denied ticket to Babita Phogat this time
• Babita and her father Mahavir Singh (Vinesh’s uncle and coach) were critical of Vinesh’s decision to join the Congress. Mahavir insisted that she should have remained focused on her sports career or joined the BJP.

Accompanied by her daughter Seema Jindal (Naveen’s sister), Savitri Jindal said there was no problem in her contesting as an Independent. “My son Naveen is a BJP MP and he will abide by the directions of the party,” she said. Seema who accompanied her said, “Naveen will campaign for the BJP and also for mata ji (mother Savitri). A mother is a mother,” she stated.

Other surprising names in the BJP and the Congress list include women wrestlers Vinesh Phogat of the Congress and her cousin Babita Phogat of the BJP. Vinesh is the Congress candidate from the Julana segment in Jind district. While the BJP had denied the ticket to Babita Phogat this time though she was party candidate from the Dadri Assembly segment in 2019 but lost the poll.

Babita and her father Mahavir Singh (Vinesh’s uncle and coach) were critical of Vinesh’s decision to join the Congress who insisted that she should have remained focused on her sports career or should have joined the BJP. However, Vinesh refused to reach out to them stating that everybody had their own sentiments. The Congress had also included wrestler Bajrang Punia who was a relative of Phogat family (husband of Babita’s sister Sangeeta Phogat) in the list of star campaigners.