Gurgaon: BJP is likely to witness a rerun of 2019 in Rewari, when it lost the assembly elections by a narrow margin of 1,317 votes due to a rebel in the party.
Overlooking sitting MLA Randhir Singh Kapriwas, BJP in 2019 gave its ticket to Sunil Kumar under pressure from Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh. Kapriwas revolted and contested as an Independent, cutting into BJP votes.
As a result, Congress leader Chiranjeev Rao, son-in-law of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, emerged victorious with 43,870 votes, while BJP candidate Sunil Kumar received 42,553 votes. Kapriwas managed to get 36,778 votes.
This time, BJP has fielded Kosli MLA Laxman Yadav from Rewari. The choice of candidate led to two aspirants rebelling — former Rewari BJP district president Satish Yadav left the party and is now contesting the elections as an AAP candidate. Another BJP ticket aspirant, Sunny Yadav, is in the fray as an Independent.
Countering claims that he’s an “outsider”, Laxman Yadav said he has spent more time in Rewari in the last five years compared to incumbent MLA Chiranjeev Rao, who resides in Gurgaon.
“My opponents say I have been shifted from Kosli; the fact is I have been promoted from the sub-division (Kosli) to district headquarters (Rewari),” he added. Chief minister Nayab Singh Saini reached Rewari on Wednesday to garner support for him.
Addressing the public during a rally in Rewari earlier this week, Saini said he was made chief minister in March, but due to the imposition of the model code of conduct — first for the parliamentary elections and then the assembly polls — he had limited time for work. “I got only 56 days to work. In this short span, I took 126 historic decisions. I had 44 more days left for my tenure, but with the announcement of the election schedule, it has been curtailed,” Saini said.
Saini said whenever he visits different parts of Haryana, people say “Samay kam mila (you didn’t get much time)”. “There is no dearth of time; now it is in your hands. Vote for BJP, and we will continue our work in the third term,” Saini said.
Listing out the work done by govt, Saini said Haryana is the first state to purchase 24 crops on MSP. “During the Congress govt led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, farmers used to get cheques of Rs 2, and jobs were given through “parchi and kharchi”.
Now, Congress candidates are talking about bringing back the system of recommendation and ending merit-based recruitment,” said Saini. He promised to start industrial model towns in 10 districts of Haryana and start an Olympic sports nursery in every district.
BJP has won the assembly elections in Rewari only once since 1976, in 2014, when the first assembly elections were conducted in Haryana after its separation from Punjab. Congress has won eight times from Rewari so far. The constituency has over 2.5 lakh registered voters. In the 2014 elections, BJP candidate Randhir Singh Kapriwas won the seat with 81,103 votes (52.9%). INLD’s Satish Yadav came second with 35,637 votes (23.3%), losing to Kapriwas by a margin of 45,466 votes. Congress candidate Ajay Singh finished third with 31,471 votes (20.5%), while BSP candidate Pritam Kumar came fourth with 1,312 votes (0.9%).
Congress’ Ajay Singh Yadav, father of Chiranjeev Rao, was the Rewari MLA from 1991 to 2009, gaining victory in the assembly polls for five consecutive terms.
Credit Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/bjp-faces-rebellion-in-rewari-ahead-of-elections-a-repeat-of-2019/articleshow/113749674.cms