Jija-sala make it to House in debut poll

The recently concluded Assembly elections were interesting in many ways. The contest was witnessed between grandfather-grandson, brother-sister and uncle-nephew while the pair of ‘jija-sala’ too managed to win the poll battle. The BJP’s newly elected MLAs, Dr Krishan Kumar from Bawal (Rewari) and Harinder Singh from Hodal (Palwal), who decided to test the political waters after taking voluntary retirement from government service, defeated veteran Congress leaders in their debut election.

While Harinder defeated Haryana Pradesh Congress chief Udai Bhan, Kumar routed former minister Muni Lal Ranga. Aged 55, they belong to the SC community and are now in the race for a ministerial berth. Considered a loyalist of Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Kumar was given the BJP ticket a day after he opted for VRS as Director (Health Services). His entry into the poll battle came as a surprise since he replaced Dr Banwari Lal, two-time MLA from Bawal and PWD minister.

“Harinder is my sala (brother-in-law) and it is matter of pride that we both won and got the opportunity to work for the betterment of every section of society,” said Kumar, adding that they had canvassed for each other.

Harinder, son of former MLA Ram Rattan, had quit his job in 2019, just before the Assembly poll, but could not get a BJP ticket. He remained active in the party over the next five years and managed to get a ticket from Hodal this time.

His novel style of canvassing hogged the limelight at the national level as he performed ‘dandavat pranam’ in front of elderly people. This clearly worked for him as he clinched the Hodal seat in a close contest.

“Before joining politics, I had served as an Additional Private Secretary to the then Lok Sabha Speaker, Meera Kumar, and later, at the Social Justice and Empowerment Department of the Central Government. In 2019, I opted for VRS after the BJP assured me of a ticket, but that did not happen,” Harinder told The Tribune.