Chandigarh: Locked in a fierce triangular contest, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and the Congress candidate Brijendra Singh, a former Hisar MP, are fighting a battle of prestige for the Uchana Kalan assembly seat in the upcoming state polls in Haryana.
Uchana Kalan seat in the state’s Jat heartland has been a battleground for a fierce contest for decades between two of Harayana’s most prominent Jat political families – Sir Chhotu Ram’s grandson Birender Singh, a tall Congress leader and Devi Lal’s son Om Prakash Chautala, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo.
Stakes are higher this time for the two families as Dushyant Chautala is grandson of Om Prakash Chautala and Brijendra Singh is son of Birender Singh; with the BJP fielding a Brahmin candidate Devender Attri, the seat presents a triangular fight.
Birender Singh, 78, a Congress veteran had joined BJP along with his wife Prem Lata and son Brijendra Singh, a former IAS officer in 2014, snapping his over 40-year long association with the grand old party. His wife had been BJP MLA from Uchana Kalan and son, BJP MP from Hisar.
He returned to Congress fold on April 9 last, along with his wife and son. In fact, the family’s departure was anticipated for quite some time; they openly supported 2020 farmers’ protest against now-repealed farm laws and later country’s top wrestlers’ protest against former WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over the charges of sexual harassment.
However, another pressing reason for their departure from the saffron party was the family's political rivalry with Dushyant Chautala who had entered an alliance with the BJP post-2019-assembly-election.
Brijendra Singh had defeated Dushyant Chautala in 2019 Hisar Lok Sabha election. Dushyant later that year defeated Singh’s mother Prem Lata, the sitting MLA of Uchana, the seat her husband, Birender Singh, held five times in the past. Birender Singh was defeated by Om Prakash Chautala in 2009.
The tussle continued to brew between Birender Singh and JJP leadership as Dushyant insisted to fight from Uchana seat in the 2024 state polls while Birender Singh gave an ultimatum to BJP last year that he would leave the BJP if it continued its alliance with the JJP. However, BJP kept mum thus precipitating the row. This is how the feud between the two families has continued.
Even as both the candidates have launched aggressive campaigns highlighting the works done under their respective stints (Uchana Kalan falls under Hisar Lok Sabha constituency), the BJP has fielded a Brahmin candidate Devender Attri with an eye to muster non-Jat votes.
Congress has a disadvantage as at least two party rebels, Virender Ghoghrian and Dilbag Sandil have also entered the fray posing a possible split in the party votes. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Pawan Fauji, who could also eat into the anti-BJP votes.
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