Politics can turn foes into friends. And when it's the poll season, unforeseen overtures become all the more common. At a rally in the dusty town of Tohana on September 23, Union home minister Amit Shah amplified precisely such a counter-melody, one that has pepped up the Haryana assembly election, imparting a late twist to a contest that was being seen as all done and dusted. The speech was peppered with invocations of the work done during the decade-long rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), both in the state and at the Centre. But the real juice was the concern he showered upon Sirsa MP Kumari Selja-the Dalit face of the party seen to be in pole position, the rival Congress.
As the Grand Old Party smells power after a long dry spell, Selja has made no secret of her ambition to occupy the chief minister's seat and was seeking a ticket for herself and 35 loyalists. But only 13 could make the cut, and she was not among them. Ever since, the former Union minister kept a sullen aloofness from the campaign trail, even skipping the release of the Congress manifesto at its Delhi headquarters on September 18. Adding insult to her wounds, supporters of a party candidate-a loyalist of her bête noire Bhupinder Singh Hooda allegedly made casteist remarks targeting her during the filing of nominations at Narnaud in Hisar. At the Tohana rally, just a district away, Shah laid it on thick, saying this insult to a "Dalit ki beti" (Dalit's daughter) proved the Congress was an "anti-Dalit" party. Just before this, fellow Union minister and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar had claimed the BJP was "ready with an offer" for the Congress MP. Would Haryana, too, see a high-profile defection, a la Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra? That too of an old Gandhi family loyalist? Selja rubbished the speculation the same evening, though admitting that she was "hurt".
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 07, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 07, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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