Two clans' kin emerge winners, others bite dust

The Lok Sabha poll results in Haryana have ensured a political pedestal for the fourth generation kin of Devi Lal clan, Dushyant Chautala, who won the Hisar seat, a third term for Deepender Hooda, son of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in Rohtak, and a rout for the kin of two Lals-- Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal.

In Hisar, INLD candidate Dushyant, 26, who became the youngest MP ever from Haryana, not only sprang a surprise by trouncing the long political standing of Haryana Janhit Congress nominee Kuldeep Bishnoi, 45, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, by winning with a margin of over 28,000.

In Rohtak, despite a strong anti-incumbency factor, Deepender Hooda (Cong) polled 4.90 lakh votes and won by a margin of 1.7 lakh votes by defeating his BJP rival Om Prakash Dhankhar.

However, this time his victory is not impressive as compared to his last two wins in parliamentary polls in 2005 and 2009. He won by massive margins of 2.32 lakh in 2005 and 4.45 lakh in 2009.

Senior Congress leaders claimed that Deepender's victory has given some strength to chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who will have to face assembly polls in October this year.

In the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh constituency, Shruti Chaudhry, 38, grand-daughter of former chief minister Bansi Lal, was trounced by former MLA Dharambir, who had recently recently resigned the Congress to fight Shruti on BJP ticket. Shruti finished third while the INLD nominee Rao Bahadur emerged as runner-up, losing to Dharambir by over 1.19 lakh votes. Infighting in Congress and anti-incumbency factor were among the reasons that did her in.

The dismal performance of the HJC in these elections may have serious repercussions over the future of its political alliance with the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in Haryana.

Bishnoi has resigned as president of the party and his wife Renuka Bishnoi has announced her resignation from the membership of the Haryana assembly.

Bishnoi, who always sought to polarise non-Jat votes in his favour-- a shrewd political tactic initiated by his late father and former chief minister Bhajan Lal--was elected as MP twice and also as MLA twice. However, he failed miserably to swing the tide in his favour this time and his calculations proved wrong in his home turf.

Political observers feel that even if BJP keeps its alliance with HJC intact, Bishnoi would be no more than marginalised ally.