After MP Brijendra Singh’s exit from BJP, Dushyant throws his hat into the ring, stakes claim on Hisar LS seat

Currently, BJP represents all 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana. “Our preference is to contest on two Lok Sabha seats, including Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh. Rest, it all depends on the NDA what they say, which seats they want to take or share. Otherwise, JJP is all set to contest on all 10 Lok Sabha seats on its own. We have already covered six Lok Sabha constituencies by way of holding major rallies, the seventh one is scheduled in Hisar on March 13,” Dushyant said.

JJP held its coordination committee meeting on Sunday at Sirsa which was chaired by Dushyant’s father and JJP’s national president Ajay Singh Chautala. The meeting was convened to formulate the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.

Dushyant had contested as Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate and won from Hisar in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. However, in 2019 he lost to then BJP candidate Brijendra Singh by a margin of over 3.14 lakh votes. With Brijendra Singh quitting the BJP now, Dushyant’s close aides told The Indian Express that “the equations have changed now”. JJP sources told The Indian Express that Dushyant is the first choice of the party to contest from Hisar.

Although Brijendra might still be eyeing Hisar Lok Sabha seat, this time as a Congress candidate; Dushyant said, “It is yet to be seen if he (Brijendra) leaves Hisar or stays here or goes to Sonipat or somewhere else.”

BJP’s Haryana unit has already announced that the party will contest on all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. However, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had added that “the decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls on a seat-sharing or in alliance with a party will be taken by the party high command”.

For BJP too, it is not going to be an easy task to leave Hisar for JJP. Congress’ rebel Kuldeep Bishnoi who had joined the BJP last year after quitting the grand old party and BJP’s former Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu are the two stalwarts who are among the front-runners for the BJP as potential candidates from Hisar Lok Sabha seat. While Abhimanyu had won Narnaund assembly constituency in 2014, Bishnoi had represented Adampur assembly constituency multiple times and his son Bhavya Bishnoi currently represents Adampur. Both Narnaund and Adampur also form part of Hisar Lok Sabha constituency.

Out of JJP’s total 10 MLAs in Haryana Vidhan Sabha’s 90 members, four come from constituencies under Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Currently, out of nine assembly constituencies that exist in Hisar Lok Sabha constituency – five (Adampur, Hisar, Hansi, Nalwa, Bawani-Khera) are represented by the BJP and four (Uchana Kalan, Uklana, Narnaund, Barwala) by the JJP.

In Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, BJP’s Dharambir had defeated Congress’ Shruti Choudhry by a margin of over 4.4 lakh votes in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

BJP is yet to announce its candidates for Haryana. It is learnt that at least two-three sitting MPs may not be fielded by the party for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, BJP’s Arvind Kumar Sharma had barely managed a victory over Congress’ Depender Hooda in Rohtak by a margin of over 7,000 votes. Rohtak seat was the toughest contest that any BJP candidate faced in Haryana. The second closest victory margin was in Sonipat where BJP’s Ramesh Chander Kaushik defeated Congress’ Bhupinder Singh Hooda by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes. On remaining eight seats, the victory margins of BJP candidates were over 3 lakh votes, and Faridabad and Karnal were the two seats, where BJP candidates won by huge margins of over 6.3 lakh votes each.