Siblings Slug It Out For Bhiwani
The prestigious Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat in Haryana is all set to witness a battle between brothers.
The ruling Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) has fielded Surendra Singh, younger son of Chief Minister Bansi Lal as the party nominee against Ranbir Mahender, his elder brother, the Congress nominee.
Ajay Chautala, elder son of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is also in the fray but as a Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) nominee.
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Ranbir, Bansi Lals eldest son does not see eye to eye with his father. The differences are, of course, political. He bears a grouse against his father for exclusively promoting his younger brother, Surendra, for the past two decades.
Interestingly, Ranbirs first love has always been cricket and not politics. For many years, he remained the secretary of the Board of Cricket Control of India.
On the contrary, Surendra has been active in Haryana politics since 1975, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed emergency on the country. Bansi Lal, the then defence minister was the de facto Chief Minister of Haryana, his home state, while Banarsi Lal Gupta acted as the de jure one. At the time Surendra acquired the reputation of being the Sanjay Gandhi of Haryana.
Surendra won the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat by a thumping margin of over two lakh votes in the 1996 elections when a HVP wave virtually swept the state.
The situation has dramatically changed in the past one-and-a-half year though. There is widespread resentment against the Bansi Lal government among different sections of society today. Moreover, Sonia Gandhis arrival on the scene as the star campaigner for the Congress has also boosted the spirits of the party in the state.
While Surendra, a former Rajya Sabha member as well as an MLA, is aggressive, his sibling is sober by nature. Analysts predict a neck and neck fight between the two brothers.