Battlelines drawn for Jind bypoll, 21 in fray in multi-corner contest

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14

Battlelines have been drawn for the Jind bypoll as after the last date for the withdrawal of the nomination papers today, it has emerged that it will be a multi-corner contest between Krishan Midha of the ruling BJP, Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, Umed Redhu of the INLD and Digvijay Chautala, an independent backed by the JJP.

Vinod Ashri of Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini’s Loktantra Suraksha Manch and 16 other independents are also in the fray, making the total number of candidates 21.

Virender Sehrawat, returning officer for the Jind bypoll, said among the 21 candidates left in the fray, Midha and Surjewala were candidates of the national recognised parties, Redhu of a state recognised party, Ashri of a registered party and 17 others, including Digvijay Chautala who has got “cup plate” as his election symbol, will be considered independents.

Surjewala’s election campaign got a boost today when Anshul Singla, a son of former minister Brij Mohan Singla who had filed his nomination papers as independent, withdrew his candidature in the Congress nominee’s favour.

Accompanied by Surjewala and the state Congress president Ashok Tanwar, Singla went to the mini-secretariat today for withdrawing his nomination papers and announced his support for the Congress candidate.

Later, Surjewala addressed a meeting at Kandela village and made a scathing attack on the Chautala clan by reminding villagers of police firing on agitating farmers in May and June 2002 during the Om Prakash Chautala regime when nine persons were killed in the district.

The BJP candidate Krishan Midha today campaigned in 12 villages, including Jhanjh Khurd, Jhanjh Kalan, Roopgarh, Jeetgarh.

Accompanied by Sonepat MP Ramesh Kaushik, CM’s OSD Captain Bhupender, Shamsher Kharkhara and former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University AK Chawla, Midha addressed village gatherings and reminded people of development works carried out in Jind during the present BJP regime.

The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of Midha’s father Hari Chand Midha who was elected INLD MLA from Jind in 2009 and 2014.

Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain and her husband Rajiv Jain, who is also CM’s media advisor, campaigned for Midha in Jind town today.

The JJP nominee Digvijay Chautala today addressed meetings in Jind town and held the BJP and the Congress responsible for the lack of development in the town and also blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic policies for the plight of traders.

Taking a dig at Surjewala, Digvijay said the Congress nominee had now been promising to change people’s life for the better, but when he was public works minister during the Congress regime, he never thought of repairing roads of the town.

Digvijay’s father Ajay Chautala who was campaigning for his son till yesterday, returned to Sirsa last evening as he has to surrender in Tihar Jail tomorrow when his 14-day furlough ends.

While Ajay Chautala will return to jail, the INLD nominee Umedh Redhu is banking on the release of party patriarch Om Prakash Chautala on parole.

The INLD sources said Chautala’s parole application was likely to be decided on January 20.

Both Chautala and his son Ajay are serving imprisonment in Tihar in the JBT recruitment case.

Ashok Arora, state president of the INLD, said Redhu, being a local candidate, was getting good response from people.

Meanwhile, campaign of all major political parties is yet to gather steam and prominent leaders like Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Kuldeep Bishnoi etc are expected to come for campaign in the next couple of days.