The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Haryana today, showcasing a diverse lineup that includes an actor-rapper, its president Dushyant Chautala’s mother, and loyalists of the Chautala family. This is the party’s first list after its split from its former partner, the BJP, in Haryana.
The candidates include Dushyant’s mother, Naina Chautala, who will be contesting from Hisar – the constituency Dushyant represented in 2014 but lost to BJP’s Brijendra Singh in 2019.
Brijendra is currently with the Congress and is among the frontrunners for Hisar on the Congress party ticket.
The BJP has nominated Ranjit Singh, the incumbent energy minister in Haryana, from Hisar. Both Naina and Ranjit are relatives; Naina Chautala, married to Ajay Chautala, is INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala’s daughter-in-law, and Ranjit Singh is Om Prakash Chautala’s brother.
Other candidates announced by the JJP include actor-cum-rapper Rahul Yadav Fazilpuria, who gained fame with his rap song “Ladki beautiful, kar gayi Chull” in the movie Kapoor and Sons starring Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt. Rahul has been declared as JJP’s candidate for Gurugram.
Rahul hails from the small village of Fazilpur Jharsa in Gurgaon, barely 40 kilometers away from the Rajasthan border. He comes from a business family and completed his education at a private school in Gurgaon. Rahul frequently performs at various shows across India and in several foreign nations, promoting Haryanvi and rap music in Bollywood.
Other JJP candidates announced include former MLA Ramesh Khatak from Sirsa, who served as MLA three times in 1991, 1996, and 2000 from Baroda, former MLA Rao Bahadur Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, who served as MLA from Nangal Chaudhary in 2009 and unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, and JJP’s young leader Nalin Hooda from Faridabad, who serves as JJP’s district youth president in Faridabad.