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BJP bets on Brahmins in Jatland

CHANDIGARH: The ruling BJP is betting on Brahmin faces in Sonepat and Rohtak Lok Sabha seats to checkmate former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Jatland, comprising Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts.

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Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16

The ruling BJP is betting on Brahmin faces in Sonepat and Rohtak Lok Sabha seats to checkmate former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Jatland, comprising Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts.

In a clear attempt to polarise Jat and non-Jat votes, the BJP has fielded Arvind Sharma, a former Congressman, from Rohtak to take on Hooda’s son and sitting MP Deepender Hooda. Deepender was the only Congressman who defied the Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning the seat for the third successive term.

For the Sonepat seat, the party has retained sitting MP Ramesh Kaushik, who emerged victorious riding on the Modi wave, and polarisation of non-Jat and urban votes in the BJP’s favour in 2014.

The BJP won seven out of eight seats (except Rohtak) it contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but Hooda’s influence continued unabated in Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts.

This was proved in the 2014 Assembly elections when the Congress won 10 of the 15 Assembly seats in the Jatland.

The violent Jat quota agitation in 2016, which resulted in large-scale damage to life and property in the Jatland, especially in Rohtak and Jhajjar, seems to have changed the political landscape. With that end in mind, the BJP seems to have banked on non-Jat candidates, especially Brahmins, in Sonepat and Rohtak.

Sources in the BJP said fielding Brahmin candidates was a deliberate attempt to polarise non-Jat and urban voters in the party’s favour. The party believes that Brahmin candidates are more acceptable than other non-Jat candidates in Sonepat and Rohtak constituencies.

The BJP is taking things easy in Sonepat. The contest in Hooda’s home turf Rohtak, however, will be tough. So, the party is leaving no stone unturned to wrest the seat from the Congress, though the party is upbeat following its win in the mayoral elections in Rohtak.

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