Chandigarh: Even though the top leaders of ruling BJP as well as principal opposition party Congress in Haryana have succeeded in placating several of their respective rebel leaders who had jumped into the fray after being denied the ticket, there are still some who have remained adamant on their decision to fight against own party candidates in the upcoming October 5 assembly polls. The last date to withdraw the nominations was September 16.
As regards the BJP, some of the senior leaders who were anguished after being denied the ticket, but were pacified by the party leadership led by chief minister Nayab Saini, state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli and election incharge Dharmendra Pradhan, who met various `rebels’ personally and mollified them.
These leaders included BJP veteran Ram Bilas Sharma (Mahendergarh), senior leader Kavita Jain (Sonepat), Bharti Saini and Shiv Kumar Mehta (both from Narnaul) and Rampal Yadav from Kosli segment and Karnal’s former mayor Renu Bala.
However, the saffron party still faced possible damage from its former MLA, Savitri Jindal – who is mother of BJP Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal and country’s richest woman – who is contesting against BJP’s nominee Kamal Gupta from Hisar.
Other prominent rebel leaders who could not be pacified and could cause a dent in the BJP candidates’ support included, Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Naveen Goyal (Gurugram), Deepak Dagar (Prithala), Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin), Kalyan Chauhan (Sohna), Bachan Singh Arya and Jasbir Deswal (Safidon), and Nagendra Bhadana who had already joined INLD.
However, BJP leaders held that they were still in touch with these (rebel) leaders and were confident of bringing them back in the party’s fold.
CONGRESS REBELS
Like BJP, the Congress senior leaders - led by former two-term chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda - also undertook a damage control exercise, and succeeded in pacifying several of the disgruntled leaders. Congress is seeking a return to power after a decade.
One of the prominent leaders who had rebelled against the party candidate from Nalwa, Sampat Singh was persuaded to withdraw from the race. Also, former MLA and chief parliamentary secretary Ram Kishan Fauji, withdrew his nomination from Bawani Khera seat.
Likewise, other senior leaders who withdrew their nominations following Hooda’s persuasion included Jasbir Mallour ambala city and Himmat Singh from Ambala city. Other leaders pacified by Hooda included Prem Singh Malik, Suman Sharma, Naresh From Hansi, Sudhir Kumar (Pataudi) Shamsuddin and Pradeep (Sohna) and Rajinder (Nilokheri), who also withdrew their nominations.
However, the party failed to pacify party leader Chitra Sarwara, who is daughter of its senior leader and Ambala city candidate Nirmal Singh, who has decided to fight against party’s candidate Parvinder Pal Pari and the candidates of other parties in the fray from Ambala Cantt.
The party has also failed to bring former MLA Rohita Rewri from Panipat city, two-time Congress MLA Sharda Rathore from Ballabgarh, former MLAs - Lalit Nagar from Tigaon, Rajesh Joon from Bahadurgarh, Raj Kumar Valmiki from Nilokheri and Satvinder Rana from Kalayat – who have decided to contest as independent against the party candidate.