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Will Kurukshetra favour Chautala's favourite?

By Rajesh Ahuja

KURUKSHETRA, MAY 6. The prestige of the Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal chief, Om Prakash Chautala, is at stake in the prestigious Kurukshetra constituency as his younger son and party MLA from Rori, Abhey Singh, is locked in a tough multi-cornered contest in the land of Mahabharata.

The Congress has fielded Naveen Jindal, son of the noted industrialist O.P.Jindal, while the Haryana Vikas Party has fielded Jatinder Singh (Kaka) and the BJP Gurdayal Singh Saini.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Ekta Shakti and the Samajwadi Party are also in the fray. A tour of the constituency indicates that the contest for the first slot would be mainly between Mr. Abhey Singh and Mr.Jindal while Mr.Saini and Mr.Jatinder Singh are to likely to battle it out for the third position.

While Mr. Abhey Singh is a political heavy-weight being the "favourite'' son of Mr.Chautala and virtually calling the shots in the running of the State, Mr.Jindal is a virtual novice in the world of `politics.' Interestingly, the INLD nominee, who recently had criticised the political parties for using film personalities for campaigning, is heavily relying on his "cine friends''-- Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty and Aditya Pancholi -- to woo the electorate especially when the party is encountering anti-incumbency factor in the State. It was only recently that he had been quoted as saying "political parties which were taking the help of film-stars were not only showing their political bankruptcy but were also flouting the guidelines of the Election Commission with impunity.''

INLD workers from all over the State have descended upon Kurukshetra and Bhiwani constituencies to ensure the victory of Abhey and his elder brother, Ajay Singh, respectively. Green flags can be seen fluttering over buildings and posters of the INLD are pasted over every nook and corner. Large crowds can be seen sitting outside the INLD election offices. Mr. Abhey Singh asserts that his main planks are "development, prosperity and peace.''

The campaign of Mr.Jindal is picking up gradually and the visit of the party President, Sonia Gandhi, to the neighbouring constituency of Ambala has further brightened his prospects. The recent announcement by the "dismissed'' constables to support the Congress has further boosted his electoral prospects.

It is being said that both Abhey and Naveen are new-comers to the belt and stand an equal chance. Moreover, both the candidates are making promises that they would usher in rapid development of the region. While Mr. Abhey Singh dismisses talk of anti-incumbency factor against his father and asserts that the INLD government in the State has still several months remaining in which promises will be fulfilled, Mr. Jindal has to answer embarrassing questions by the audience as to why his father failed to honour the commitments made to the voters during his tenure as MP when he got elected on the HVP ticket in 1996. Mr.Naveen Jindal has ruled out the possibility of setting up an industry in the area.

Mr. Jindal has lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Mr.Chautala alleging misuse of official machinery. The INLD too has levelled similar allegations against Mr.Jindal and charged that money power was being discriminately used to allure the voters.

On the other hand, Mr.Saini, who belongs to Kurukshetra, talks about the Vajpayee wave and asserts that the BJP is the only party which can usher in development and eradicate corruption. However, in the absence of a clear Vajpayee wave in Haryana and the "India Shining'' fading away, locals say that the BJP may not find it a cakewalk to win this seat which was won by the INLD's Kailasho Saini in the 1999 elections.

The HVP nominee, Jatinder Singh, had launched his election campaign long time back and the HVP Secretary-General and candidate from Bhiwani, Surinder Singh, has addressed a couple of meetings in his favour. It is being said that Kaka's plus point is that he belongs to Kurukshetra district and is well aware of the problems facing the 11,59,267 electorate.

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