Tough, multi-cornered contest in the offing

Except for the INLD, no other major political party has named its candidate so far for Faridabad (NIT) seat, where Independent Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, who is labour minister in the present government, is in for a keen fight in the ensuing assembly election.

The INLD has fielded Nagender Bhadana, who had also fought against Sharma in 2009. Bhadana, the INLD’s district president, had finished third and the then Congress candidate AC Choudhry had got only about 100 more votes than him. Sharma, who got over 23,000 votes, defeated them with a margin of more than 8,000 votes.

Moreover, the situation has not changed a bit for Chaudhary, who held that he lost as several areas of his dominance had gone into Badkhal assembly segment during the delimitation in 2009. While he has not been declared as the Congress candidate, he was among several leaders who had not gone to recent party rally at Panipat.

BJP wave

Though Sharma is rooted to the constituency since decades as he has been holding senior positions in the local municipal corporation, he faces a towering BJP tide this time too.

Nonetheless, the people have slowly started expressing their anguish against the absence of “acche din” as promised by the BJP government. However, since KP Gujjar and Rao Inderjit (formerly Congress MP), who represent Faridabad and Gurgaon, respectively, have become ministers in the Modi government and his constituency neighbours Delhi, which was swept by the BJP by winning all seven LS seats, Sharma has reasons to worry.

Bhadana has high hopes as the INLD now has former four-time MP Avtar Bhadana, who was humiliated with defeat by Gujjar, and had quit the Congress accusing many party leaders of sabotage and joined the INLD.

Counting on development plank

Sharma, whose youngest son Neeraj Sharma, too, has recently joined the BJP and grandson Anup, who is in BSP, on the other hand has a long standing as a local political leader and has risen from the ranks. He is counting on development plank of CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda who harps on ‘No. 1 state’ status in the country and his (Sharma’s) works carried out during the past about five years.

Though the BJP has not declared its candidates so far, Neera Tomar, secretary, state BJP unit since 1992, is in race for ticket. She has also been president of the district women wing of the BJP as well as its district general secretary and councillor in the municipal corporation in the past.

Banking on her long association with the party cadre, developmental works as councillor, she is also pinning hopes on the Modi wave.

Such was the Modi wave in the recent Lok Sabha elections that BJP candidate Krishan Pal Gujjar got over 84,000 votes from Faridabad (NIT) segment, Congress’ four-time MP Avtar Bhadana 18,000 and INLD’s RK Anand, just 8,000 votes.