The BJP has had mixed results when it comes to appeasing the party rebels who are giving the saffron party anxiety ahead of the October 5 Assembly elections.
Haryana CM Nayab Saini during a press conference
The party managed to secure the withdrawal of at least five rebel candidates on this final day of nomination withdrawals. Yet, the party still has “rebel trouble” in at least 15 Assembly segments, despite the best efforts of the higher ranks.
Along with other prominent figures, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and BJP state chief Mohan Lal Badoli spearheaded the efforts to appease the rebel candidates who were upset. Together, they managed to get Rajiv Jain, a former media advisor to former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, to withdraw his nomination. Jain was eyeing the ticket from Sonepat with his wife, Kavita Jain, a former minister of Haryana.
In addition to this, we saw the withdrawal of Bharti Saini’s candidature as the rebel BJP candidate from Narnaul. Yesterday, Saini paid Bharti a visit at Narnaul. Rampal Yadav (Kosli) and Shiv Kumar Mehta (Narnaul) also withdrew their nominations.
Santosh Yadav, a former deputy speaker and Ateli ticket contender, withdrew his nomination, which is another noteworthy “success” for the party today. The daughter of Ateli-born Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Aarti Rao, has been fielded by the party.
On the other hand, with her husband promoted to working district BJP president, former Karnal mayor Renu Bala Gupta was able to win over Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP’s election chief.
After being refused a ticket from Hisar, Savitri Jindal, the mother of BJP Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, is running as an independent. The party has nominated Kamal Gupta, a former minister from Hisar, again. Ranjit Singh, a former minister for Haryana, had earlier filed papers as an independent candidate after Rania had rejected his candidature.
Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin), Bachan Singh Arya, Devender Kadian (Ganaur), Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Deepak Dagar (Prithla), Naveen Goyal (Gurugram), Jasbir Deswal (Safidon), and Kalyan Chauhan (Sohna) were among the well-known rebel candidates who could overthrow the BJP machinery.
In addition, Nagendra Bhadana, who left the BJP to join the INLD after being refused a ticket, will intentionally harm Satish Fagna, the BJP candidate from Faridabad (NIT).
However, senior BJP officials asserted that despite the expiration of the nomination withdrawal deadline, more would be done to court the rebels. As it is, most of the high-ranking officials with ties to Haryana are already at work trying to appease the rebels.
“There are still about eighteen days left for us to plan.” Before the October 5 election, the majority of rebels should align, according to a senior leader.
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