Rift in Congress could give Rao Inderjit Singh the edge

GURUGRAM: With poll season upon us, there’s frenetic activity over candidatures, as expected. For the Gurugram Lok Sabha seat, announcement of Rao Inderjit Singh’s name as the BJP candidate is a formality. But his challengers from Congress and INLD are yet to be shortlisted.

Four-time MP Rao Inderjit is the frontrunner from the constituency, due to his stronghold in the Ahirwal region.

As before, Mewat remains key concern for BJP, where, in 2014, the Meo Muslim majority had voted for Zakir Hussain, a Meo, who had contested on an INLD ticket.

The other two parties in the fray, JJP and AAP, are still mulling over an alliance. AAP spokesperson R S Rathee said an alliance with JJP is on the cards, and the decision will be taken by March 31. If that does not happen, AAP will contest on its own and release its list of candidates in the first week of April, he added.

In a 4- or 5- cornered contest, Singh is expected to hold the edge. BJP sources said the party is confident of Inderjit’s hold over Ahirwal. “As for Mewat, we’re hoping for a better performance than previous elections , due to development work done by the party there,” said a senior BJP leader.

However, the Congress frontrunner for the Gurugram seat, Captain Ajay Yadav, said BJP has no option but the sitting MP, and added there won’t be a repeat of 2014 this time, as people are fed up with the BJP government.

“Mewat will be the decider for the Gurugram seat in this elections,” he said, adding that he expected Congress to take a substantial lead in Mewat, whereas in the Yadav-dominated Ahirwal region, the fight between Congress and BJP could be neck-to-neck.

Regarding his party’s finalising of candidates, he said they are still discussing the list of probables, but the list should be out soon. “The huge turnouts at recent Congress rallies in Mewat gives out a strong hint about the election outcome,” he said.

Congress’s hope of taking a lead over BJP in Mewat could, however, be undermined by inner-party factions playing spoilsport. Thus far, the factions — led by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state president Ashok Tanwar, former Union minister Kumari Selja, CLP leader Kiran Chaudhry and former minister Captain Ajay Yadav — have failed to reach consensus. Even the faction led by Randeep Surjewala is part of this parley, despite the senior leader’s loss at the recent Jind bypoll.

Expectedly, all of them denied rumours of rifts. State chief Tanwar said all senior leaders will work towards defeating rival parties — BJP, INLD and others — forgetting internal differences. “Internal politics will remain, but all leaders will work together for the party’s victory in the forthcoming elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” said Tanwar.

INLD spokesperson Kapil Tyagi said their final list of candidates will be released by April 12, adding that in Gurugram, Gopichand Gehlot is among the frontrunners.