Lal clans shadow of past, lack influence to get CM post

For the first time in the electoral history after 1968, the clan of the three Lals — Bansi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Devi Lal — seems to be on the weak footing as far as the chief ministerial plank is concerned. The rise of the BJP has apparently not only shrunk political ground of the three political dynasties but also cut them to size.

While the relatives of the political dynasties of Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal have accepted the leadership of CM Nayab Singh Saini and not staking the claims for the top post, Devi Lal’s kin and INLD leader Abhay Chautala and JJP supremo Dushyant have reckoned themselves in the race for the CM. But in the present political scenario, it seems a far cry for any of the two factions of the Chautala family to be a serious claimant for the top post.

Former MP and BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoi has ruled himself out of the race for chief minister in this election stating that he was not a contender for the post. “I and all my supporters stand by the BJP which has declared Nayab Singh Saini its face in this election,” he said in a press conference here.

Before joining the BJP in November 2022, Kuldeep had gone to his segment in Adampur projecting himself as the CM candidate in the Congress in 2019. When the Congress installed his arch rival Bhupinder Singh Hooda as CM in 2005, Kuldeep parted ways with the party in 2007. He had termed himself as chief ministerial material.

Similarly, Kiran Choudhry who has been elected as Rajya Sabha MP after she switched over to the BJP from the Congress in June remained at odds with Hooda as she nursed chief ministerial aspirations when in the Congress. In the BJP, she has secured a ticket for her daughter Shruti Choudhry and has accepted the leadership of Nayab Singh Saini as CM.

Though INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala had claimed that he would never accept any post below the CM, he, too, had admitted that the INLD was not going to get a majority in this election. “It will be a hung Assembl,y and the INLD will be not only the kingmaker but also the king in itself in the Assembly,” he claimed. However, his claim for the CM post seems difficult as the party polled just 2.5 per cent vote share and won just one seat in 2019 Assembly polls and 1.84 per cent votes in recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana.

The JJP managed to win 10 seats and secure around 15 per cent vote share in 2019 and subsequently went with the BJP to form a coalition government. However, its decision (to ally with BJP) backfired badly as the party eroded its support base so badly as it got below 1 per cent vote in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

A political expert Prof Kushal Pal said for the first time since 1968, three political dynasties have gone on the margins in Haryana politics. “The BJP’s rise has usurped the space of the regional forces in Haryana,” he admitted.

Of 19 times, the chief ministerial oath was taken in Haryana, the members of these three Lal families administered oath 11 times from 1968 to till 2000.