Bhajan Lal faces namesake in polls to Hisar

I / Hisar (haryana) May 6, 2009, 15:47 IST

Shakespeare's Juliet Montague wondered: 'What's in a name'? Ask Haryana's former chief minister Bhajan Lal and he would tell why a name matters. 

Bhajan Lal, 78, has all reasons to be jittery as he enters the Lok Sabha polls from Hisar where he faces an independent who is his namesake. 

The problem is not many voters would know this Bhajan Lal from the other. The Haryana Janhit Congress nominee and veteran leader Bhajan Lal, 78, had left the Congress in 2005 after losing the race for the chief minister to Hooda. He was elected to the Assembly nine times and twice to the Lok Sabha. On the other hand 47-year-old independent candidate Bhajan Lal is contesting Lok Sabha election for the first time. 

All three major parties— Congress, Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Janhit Congress — blame each other for fielding dummy and namesake candidates to confuse voters.  

"It is the Congress and INLD strategy to field a dummy and namesake candidates. But they do not know that the voters are more aware these days and know the election symbols of all the candidates. It is simply an attempt to spread chaos and confusion," Bhajan Lal told PTI.