Haryana dynasties locked in a fight for survival in Uchana Kalan

Uchana Kalan (Haryana), Sep 9 (IANS) The Jat-dominated Uchana Kalan Assembly seat in Haryana’s Jind district will witness a gripping fight for survival among Haryana’s two prominent political dynasties -- both belonging to the fourth generation.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala is on the ballot for the second time to retain his seat, one of the state’s hot seats.

The Congress has pitted former IAS officer, Brijendra Singh, who quit the BJP as the Hisar Member of Parliament to join the Congress this year.

Both are multi-millionaires and well-educated, as per their previous poll affidavits.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, Dushyant, a business administration graduate from California State University and the great-grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, had defeated his closest rival and then BJP leader Prem Lata by a huge margin.

Prem Lata is the wife of former Union Minister Birender Singh and the mother of Brijendra Singh, who had defeated Dushyant in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

From this seat, the ruling BJP has fielded greenhorn Devender Attri, who claims his father as a social worker for four decades commands huge respect in the area.

Confident of victory as a commoner, Attri told IANS that those who got elected as a legislator in the past from here have worked either from Chandigarh or Delhi and for this reason, Uchana remained bereft of development.

“The people now need a commoner who lives with them. I am confident the people of Uchana will ensure our victory and end the dynasty politics,” he added.

Dushyant last week filed his nomination papers for the Assembly polls from the Uchana Kalan seat in Jind district.

After filing the nomination, he said in the previous Assembly polls the wave of change started from Uchana Kalan and the JJP became the king-maker and this time too the constituency will lay the foundation of change.

Political observers told IANS this time there will be a sixth straight battle in the Assembly polls largely between two prominent Jat clans -- Dushyant, 36, the grandson of five-time Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, and Brijendra Singh, 51, the great-grandson of Jat icon Chotu Ram, who defeated Dushyant in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Hisar.

Dushyant won the 2014 Lok Sabha election as the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate. He parted ways with the INLD in December 2018 after a bitter split in the party and the Chautala family.

While the political battle for the seat is underway, the residents seek better amenities and development.

A visit to rural areas across this constituency reveals they lack access to basic amenities -- drinking water, sanitation, electricity and drainage despite being ruled by the top political families of the state.

“Despite being the Deputy Chief Minister in the (outgoing) government for four and a half years, Dushyant has failed to provide investment for developing basic amenities in villages. For villagers, the basic amenities are still a daydream,” octogenarian farmer Nafe Rathee of Alipura village told IANS.

“We voted for Dushyant last time despite an outsider tag on him. After winning, he never turned up. Now we will question him over many longstanding issues like the agricultural crisis that remains unresolved and other promises made during elections often forgotten,” said another villager Ajaib Singh, 80, who believes farm distress casts a long shadow on elections.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, housewife-turned-politician Prem Lata defeated Dushyant by 7,480 votes.

Uchana Kalan, a part of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, has been a traditional bastion of her husband former Union Minister Birender Singh, who represented the seat five times since 1977.

Dushyant's father, Ajay Singh Chautala, is the elder son of INLD president Om Prakash Chautala, who defeated Birender Singh by 621 votes in the 2009 Assembly polls.

Uchana Kalan's grain market is known for trading wheat, cotton and paddy.

“This time there is a straight contest between Dushyant and Brijendra Singh. Both are Jat leaders but people repose faith more in Brijendra Singh as he’s seen as an able administrator, not a shrewd politician,” resident Ram Singh said.

In 1984, Brijendra Singh’s father Birender Singh, a Congress candidate, had defeated Dushyant's grandfather Om Prakash Chautala from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Later, Om Prakash Chautala defeated Birender Singh from Uchana Kalan in the 2009 Assembly elections by a narrow margin of 621 votes.

Birender Singh, who had joined the BJP in 2014 after leading a revolt against then Congress Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in April rejoined his former party that he has been associated with for over four-decade along with his wife and son.

As per the caste mathematics, Jats are the dominant group and account for one-third of total votes in the constituency that boasts a literacy rate of 72 per cent.

The Assembly elections for 90 seats in Haryana will take place on October 5. The counting of ballots will be held on October 8.

(Vishal Gulati can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)

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