Haryana elections: Relatives of the three famous ‘Lals’ from Haryana enter the election campaign, some compete against each other

With Haryana going for elections on October 5, several relatives of Haryana's three famous 'Lals' have joined the campaign trail, and some are even contesting against each other, promising an interesting election campaign.

Since Haryana was created as a separate state in 1966, its politics for about three decades revolved around the three famous 'Lals' – 'Devi Lal', popularly known as 'Tau' Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal – all of whom served as the state's chief ministers. Devi Lal was also the country's deputy prime minister.

Several representatives of these prominent political families have been fielded by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) for next month's elections.

Elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly are scheduled to take place on October 5, with the counting of votes to begin on October 8.

A clash is expected to break out between the two grandsons of the late Bansi Lal in Tosham constituency in Bhiwani district.

Anirudh Chaudhry, former treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is the grandson of Bansi Lal and will clash with his cousin and former MP Shruti Choudhry, the BJP candidate.

Shruti Choudhry is the daughter of BJP leader Kiran Choudhry and Bansi Lal's late son Surender Singh, while Anirudh Chaudhry is the son of Ranbir Singh Mahendra. Mahendra, a former BCCI president, and Surender Singh were brothers.

The Tosham constituency was represented by Kiran Choudhry, but she resigned as MP last month and the BJP nominated her for the Rajya Sabha by-election in Haryana, which she won unopposed.

The contest has become exciting not only in Tosham, but also in the Dabwali constituency in Sirsa district, which is currently held by the Congress Party.

In Dabwali, Devi Lal's grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, is contesting against JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, the great-grandson of the former deputy prime minister.

Aditya Devi Lal, the son of Jagdish, the youngest son of Devi Lal, quit the BJP on Sunday, joined the INLD and was fielded by Dabwali.

Before joining the Indian Lok Dal, which is contesting the Haryana elections in an alliance with the BSP, Aditya sought the blessings of his uncle and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala at his residence in Sirsa.

Digvijay Singh Chautala is the brother of JJP leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala. The JJP, led by Dushyant and Digvijay's father and former MP Ajay Singh Chautala, is contesting the election in an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) led by Chandra Shekhar Azad.

The BJP has fielded Bhavya Bishnoi, the grandson of late former Prime Minister Bhajan Lal, for the Adampur constituency in Hisar district.

Bhavya is currently the sitting MP from Adampur. His father Kuldeep Bishnoi is a senior BJP politician.

An interesting election battle is shaping up around Rania constituency in Sirsa district after Ranjit Singh Chautala, son of former power and prison minister Devi Lal, quit the BJP after being denied candidature recently and declared that he would contest as an independent.

INLD has fielded Devi Lal's great-grandson Arjun Chautala from Rania, also in Sirsa district. Arjun's father is senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala.

About JJP, Aditya Devi Lal told a reporter, “The party always told people that this (Sirsa region) is their 'Janam Bhoomi' and 'Karam Bhoomi', but sometimes they go to Uchana (where Dushyant is fighting), sometimes to Bhiwani (where Ajay Chautala has stayed as an MP), sometimes to Dabwali. But people are smart, they know…” After joining the INLD, Abhay Chautala called on a meeting in Chautala village to “give Aditya so much support that before filing their nominations, his opponents will be forced to think what fate awaits them in the election campaign”.

However, JJP’s Digvijay Chautala is confident of winning the Dabwali seat with a “big margin of votes”.

Arjun Chautala, meanwhile, said, “I strongly believe that the people of Rania will give us their blessings and help our party win.” On Ranjit Chautala, Arjun said, “He has decided to contest as an independent, but I think it will not make much difference.” Earlier, in this year's Lok Sabha elections, three members of the Devi Lal family had contested for the Hisar parliamentary seat: Lal's son Ranjit Singh Chautala, an independent MP who had switched to the BJP just before the LS elections; JJP MP Naina Chautala, the wife of JJP chairman and Devi Lal's grandson Ajay Singh Chautala; and Sunaina Chautala (47), the wife of Ravi Chautala, the cousin of INLD chairman Abhay Singh Chautala.

However, they could not enjoy a victory as the Hisar seat was won by a Congress candidate.

INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala also entered the election campaign from his parliamentary seat in Kurukshetra, which was won by Naveen Jindal of the BJP.

(This article has not been edited by News18 staff and is taken from the feed of a syndicated news agency – PTI)