Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in-charge of Haryana affairs and former Tripura Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb, has resumed political activities in the state. Deb has begun a series of meetings with several state leaders; he had also held meetings with MPs, MLAs, ministers, and even independent MLAs about two months ago in a phased manner.
It is believed that Deb, who is preparing for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, is using the meetings to gauge the situation in the state. He also met with former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and his wife Premlata, former Uchana MLA in New Delhi on Tuesday. Uchana is a hotly-contested seat and this meeting has brought it back into the limelight; Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala is the current Uchana MLA. There have been questions in the past regarding the BJP’s relationship with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) because of Uchana. Deb had remarked about contesting from the seat, causing Deputy CM Chautala to retaliate.
While the issue had cooled down, Deb’s meeting with Singh—who has been a minister in the Modi government—and Premlata has caused much speculation. Notably, their son Brijendra is an MP from Hisar. The meeting is also significant because Chautala has made several announcements about contesting the next elections from Uchana. There has been a fierce war of words between Singh and Dushyant on this issue. If the two allies were to contest the elections as an alliance, Uchana is bound to pose a significant problem. Singh’s family is in no mood to give up their claim on this seat.