Dushyant Chautala to take on Birender Singh’s son in Hisar

The JJP has bet big on the youth with the eldest of the four candidates being 37 and the youngest 30. It has fielded Nirmal Singh Malhari, Pradeep Deswal and Swati Yadav from Sirsa (reserved), Rohtak and Bhiwani-Mahendergath seats, respectively.

JJP founder and MP Dushyant Chautala

An MBA degree holder, a student leader, and a man from a landless family are among four people who have been awarded tickets by the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) to contest Lok Sabha polls in Haryana. The fourth ticket has been granted to party founder and MP Dushyant Chautala, who will seek re-election from Hisar. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 as an Indian National Lok Dal candidate.

The JJP has bet big on the youth with the eldest of the four candidates being 37 and the youngest 30. It has fielded Nirmal Singh Malhari, Pradeep Deswal and Swati Yadav from Sirsa (reserved), Rohtak and Bhiwani-Mahendergath seats, respectively.

Thirty-year-old Swati Yadav has more than 10 years of experience in the field of medical and telecommunication sectors. She holds an MBA degree from Georgia Institute of Technology at Atlanta in the US. Her father, Satyavir Yadav, is party’s Narnaul district president. Swati will take on former Chief Minister Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Choudhry of Congress and sitting MP Dharambir Singh of BJP in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh. Swati is currently working as director of Euro Group of Schools that has 11 branches across Gurgaon and Rewari.

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Deswal, 32, who has been a student leader, has done his LLM from Maharshi Dayanand University of Rohtak and is president of JJP’s students wing INSO. He will take on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Singh Hooda from Rohtak where BJP has fielded three-term MP Arvind Sharma.

Eldest among the four candidates, 37 year-old Malhadi who has been fielded from Sirsa, a stronghold of the Chautalas. Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar is the party candidate from this seat while the INLD has fielded sitting MP Charanjit Singh Rori from here. Malhari belongs to a landless family in Malhari village of Sirsa. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Haryana assembly polls on Haryana Lokhit party ticket from the Kalanwali seat. He had secured about 16,000 votes.

Most interesting will be the fight in Hisar where Dushyant will take on Union Minister Birender Singh’s former bureaucrat son Brijendra Singh. The Congress plans to field former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s grandson Bhavya Bishnoi from here.

The JJP has forged an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to jointly contest all 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana. The JJP will field its candidates on seven seats, and AAP on the remaining three.

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After rejecting the Congress’s offer for an alliance in Delhi alone, the AAP Thursday announced it will names its candidates for Faridabad, Ambala and Karnal seats on Friday.

During a joint press conference with AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai, JJP chief Dushyant said, “I want to make it clear that we will never go with the Congress.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dushyant said it was the wish of his party that he contest again from Hisar. “If I am elected again, I will raise issues of the constituency like the need for a local airport.”