Hooda Jr eager to regain family bastion
The battle for Haryana is being waged in the Jat heartland of Rohtak where the three-time Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, the son of former two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is locked in a fierce fight against BJP’s Arvind Sharma, a four-time MP.
Rohtak, a Jat-dominated Lok Sabha seat, has been Congress citadel and a family bastion of Hoodas. While Congress has won this seat 11 of the 18 times, Ranbir Singh Hooda, father of Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, remained the MP from here twice — 1952 and 1957.
Bhupinder was the MP from here four times in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004 while his son Deepender has also made a hat-trick from here – 2005, 2009 and 2014. He lost to BJP’s Arvind Sharma in 2019 and is currently a Rajya Sabha member.
Significantly, Rohtak has given a deputy prime minister, Devi Lal, a two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the youngest MP, Deepender Hooda, in 2005 when he was 27.
CASTE EQUATIONS
Rohtak Lok Sabha seat may be Jat dominated, it has a significant number Punjabis, Yadavs (Ahirs), SCs, OBCs and other voters. Of the total 18.64+ lakh voters, 6.6+ lakh are Jats, 5 lakh OBCs, 3+ lakh SCs, 1.7 lakh Yadavs (Ahirs), 1 lakh, Sainis, 1.55+ lakh, Brahmins and about 1.5 lakh Punjabis.
It comprises nine assembly segments —four each in Rohtak [Meham, Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, Rohtak and Kalanaur (SC)] and Jhajjar (Bahadurgarh, Badli, Jhajjar [(SC) and Beri] districts and one is Rewari’s Kosli segment. While seven of the nine assembly segments have Congress MLAs, Meham has an independent MLA, Kosli has a BJP MLA.
While BJP highlights developmental projects brought to the constituency and refers to his active participation in the Lok Sabha and almost 100% utility of MPLAD funds, Hooda Jr rubbishes it saying most developmental projects had been approved by the previous Congress government and
DECODING CONTEST
BJP, which hopes to retain the seat on Modi-led party’s national achievements and future projections, and has gone whole hog with its cadre for Arvind Sharma’s support, his alleged non-visibility in the constituency and charges against party MLAs may not work for him. Congress, which has also gone full throttle to campaign for Hooda Jr, faces an uphill task in the SC segments, Rewari’s (Ahir belt) and Rohtak city with a significant non-Jats and Punjabis. In these areas, Deepender lagged despite a lead in the Jat belt in 2019. While the Indian National Lok Dal has not fielded its candidate and the Jannayak Janta Party’s youth wing chief Ravinder Sangwan, a greenhorn, is in the fray. The Bahujan Samaj Party has withdrawn its candidate and announced its support to Deepender. Due to factionalism in Congress, Hoodas must win the poll, as assembly election is due later this year.