Rao Inderjit Singh

A former Congress heavyweight from the region, Singh, 72, had switched to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He is a descendant of Rao Tula Ram, the 19th century king of the Ahirwal region that comprises Rewari, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon and parts of Bhiwani, Dadri, Nuh and Jhajjar in Haryana and Alwar in Rajasthan. His father Rao Birender Singh had served as Haryana’s second CM in 1967.

Even during his stint in the Congress, Singh had accused the party’s then CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of allegedly developing his own constituency Rohtak at the cost of the rest of Haryana.

Singh, who belongs to the Yadav community, has also sought to mobilise his support base over his Ahir identity. He along with his daughter Aarti Rao have strongly supported the need for an Ahir regiment in the army, which has been a long-standing demand of the community in South Haryana’s Ahirwal region involving Gurgaon, Rewari and Mahendragarh. The Yaduvanshi Ahir community has a sizeable presence in the region.

Born in Rampura, Singh graduated from Delhi University’s Hindu College and went on to get a Law degree before joining politics at the age of 26. He made his Assembly poll debut from Rewari’s Jatusana on the ticket of the Vishal Haryana Party founded by his father Rao Birender, which merged with the Congress in 1978.

Singh is the Minister of State for the Minister of Planning and Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation in Modi-3 government.

In the previous Congress-led UPA government, Singh had served as the MoS for External Affairs and later as the MoS for Defence.