BJP drops Six MLAs including two ministers

With its second list for the 90-member Assembly in Haryana, the BJP on Monday dropped six legislators, comprising two ministers, and the state party chief. The list also comprises two Muslim candidates.

In Tuesday's list, the party denied nomination to six legislators, comprising two ministers -- Education Minister Seema Trikha and Public Health Minister Banwari Lal -- besides state president Mohan Lal Badoli, who had announced to opt out of the contest.

The BJP is yet to announce candidates for three seats -- Faridabad-NIT, Sirsa and Mahendergarh.

The four legislators who denied re-nomination were Hodal (SC) legislator Jagdish Nayar, Hathin’s Praveen Dagar, Pataudi’s (SC) Satya Prakash and Ganaur’s Nirmal Rani, while the dropped ministers were Banwari Lal from Bawal (SC reserved) and Seema Trikha from Badhkal.

State president Badoli, the legislator from Rai, has been replaced by Krishna Gehlawat.

In the second list of 21 candidates, the BJP has pitted Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Vice-President Captain Yogesh Bairagi, who is the co-convener of BJP’s state sports cell, against Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who recently joined the Congress.

The party has fielded Pawan Saini from Naraingarh, the seat represented by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from 2014-2019 in his maiden entry into state politics, while Satpal Jamba has been nominated from Pundri.

Saini is believed to be a close confidante of Saini, who filed his nomination papers on Tuesday from Ladwa. With a sizeable Other Backward Class (OBC) population, particularly voters of the Saini community, this seat is being considered safe for the Chief Minister.

Yogender Rana has been fielded from Assandh, while Devender Kaushik has been fielded from Ganaur, replacing sitting legislator Nirmal Rani.

Baldev Singh Mangiana will fight the Dabwali seat, Manish Grover has been nominated for Rohtak, Om Prakash Yadav for Narnaul, Krishna Kumar for Bawal (SC), Bimla Chaudhary for Pataudi (SC), Sanjay Singh for Nuh and Naseem Ahmed for the Ferozepur Jhirka seat.

Aizaz Khan has been fielded from Punhana, Manoj Rawat from Hathin, and Harinder Singh Ramrattan from Hodal (SC).

After the release of its first list of 67 candidates on September 4, at least 12 party leaders, including Cabinet minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, one legislator and six ex-legislators resigned from the party owing to dissent.

The BJP has also changed its candidate for the Pehowa seat. Earlier, the party had given the ticket to Kanwaljit Singh Ajarana. Due to opposition, he declined to contest. Now the party has made Jai Bhagwan Sharma the candidate.

The ruling BJP is facing stiff competition to retain its helm for the third consecutive term from a resurgent Congress.