Be it Parliamentary or Assembly elections, the caste factor has always played a crucial role in politics of Haryana after the state came into existence in 1966.
In the wake of forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections for two seats slated on June 10, all parties including the BJP along with its alliance partner JJP and main Opposition party the Congress are mulling on the caste factor before the finalisation of the contestants for the ticket.
Haryana State Election Commission will hold the elections on two Rajya Sabha seats to be vacated in August this year. In a bid to emerge winner in the elections, the BJP and the Congress are on their toes and working on a string of aspects associated with the elections.
Khap Panchayats and several other communities continue to put pressure on the BJP and the Congress for giving tickets to the candidates hailing from their caste which has forced all political parties to think about the caste factor.
Khap Panchayats have conducted a meeting recently in Rohtak known as Jatland, demanding that the BJP should give ticket to a candidate belonging to the Jat community as it exists on the top in terms of population as well as votes in the state.
Besides, the representatives also supported their demand saying that the Congress already had appointed a Rajya Sabha MP so in wake of this, the BJP is also required to do so. The demand of the Khaps led to new speculations in political spheres. Apart from this, several other candidates hailing from different parties continue to put their best to get the ticket.
The list of present Rajya Sabha MPs in the state includes the names of DP Vats, Ramchander Jangda, Subhash Chandra and Dushyant Kumar Gautam and Deepender Singh Hooda. Except Hooda, aforesaid remaining four MPs hail from the ruling BJP.
Dushyant Kumar Gautam and Ramchander Jangda belong to the backward class, while DP Vats and Subhash Chandra hail from the Brahmin and Baniya communities, respectively.
While Deepender Singh Hooda elected on the Congress ticket, hails from the Jat community.
Despite the demand of Rajya Sabha’s ticket by several communities and candidates, the party high command of the BJP and the Congress are the supreme authority to take the decision in this matter.
Several BJP stalwarts namely Ramvilas Sharma, OP Dhankhar, the state party president and Captain Abhimanyu are believed to lobby for the ticket. While contrary to the ruling BJP, things are quite different in the Congress as the party stalwarts are going through a feud among them.
The leader of opposition and senior party leader Bhupendra Singh Hooda and other party leaders namely Kuldeep Bishnoi, Kumari Seleja and Kiran Chaudhary are eyeball to eyeball over the issue of dominance in the party.
Political experts are of the opinion that Kumari Shailja, who hails from the Schedule Caste (SC) community, emerged as the strongest claimant for the ticket after she resigned from the post of state party president recently.
Earlier, she was denied the ticket of Rajya Sabha during last elections of Rajya Sabha as Deepender Singh Hooda was chosen for the same replacing her.