By IANS,
Chandigarh : Haryana’s famous Lal families are again in the fray for next month’s assembly elections.
Nearly a dozen members from the families of former chief ministers Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal are in the fray for the Oct 13 battle. All three Lals have dominated Haryana’s political landscape and cast their shadows on national politics too.
Those contesting from the Lal families are from different political parties: the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). One is an independent.
Leading the Lal brigade from the INLD is former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal.
Chautala is playing safe by contesting from two constituencies – Uchana Kalan in Jind district and Ellenabad in Sirsa district – given the INLD’s poor showing in the recent elections in Haryana.
Chautala’s son and Devi Lal’s grandson Ajay Singh Chautala is contesting on the INLD ticket from Dabwali in Sirsa.
Another grandson of Devi Lal, Ravi Chautala, is fighting it out for the Dabwali seat as an independent.
The Congress candidate in Dabwali, K.V. Singh, an aide to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is also related to the Devi Lal family.
Devi Lal’s clan is contesting five seats this time.
Another son of Devi Lal, Ranjit Singh, is contesting from Rania in Sirsa district on the Congress ticket .
Former defence minister Bansi Lal’s family too has three members in the fray. All three are Congress candidates.
The most high-profile among them is flamboyant Haryana Tourism and Forests Minister Kiran Chaudhary, who is seeking re-election from Tosham in Bhiwani district.
Her estranged brother-in-law and former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Ranbir Singh Mahendra has been fielded from the Badhra constituency.
Bansi Lal’s son-in-law Somvir Singh is the candidate in Loharu.
Former chief minister Bhajan Lal, the only non-Jat leader among all the ‘Lals’, has his wife Jasma Devi in the fray from Nalwa in Hisar district. She faces a formidable opponent in Congress candidate and former finance minister Sampat Singh, who left the INLD recently to join the Congress.
Bhajan Lal’s younger son and HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi is contesting from his father’s stronghold – Adampur in Hisar district.