In the run-up to the Hisar Lok Sabha by-poll, it appears to be a mere coincidence that two people not fighting the poll battle have also come under focus — Arvind Kejriwal, an RTI activist and an aide of social activist Anna Hazare, and yoga guru Ramdev, another anti-corruption crusader.
The October 13 by polls was necessitated after the death of Bhajan Lal, former Haryana chief minister and a member of Parliament from this industrial town. Team Anna, including Kejriwal, has been leading an anti-corruption campaign against the Congress-led UPA in this by-election.
“Arvind Kejriwal has become a celebrity now, but for us he is just the same. People have started to identify us because of his popularity and work in the anti-corruption campaign,” said Ashish Agarwal, a cousin of Kejriwal, who had completed his schooling from Hisar. Some of his family members still live here and run a share brokerage firm.
Members of Team Anna have also acknowledged that it is only a coincidence that a by-election is happening in a city which has close links with Kejriwal. “It is only a coincidence that Arvind Kejriwal is from Hisar, but we will fight against corruption everywhere in the country,” said Bibhav Kumar, a close associate of Hazare.
Ramdev, who has launched a country-wide tour against the central government, had studied in a gurukul here before joining his mentor in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
“People are angry with the way Ramdev was treated by the union government in Delhi’s Ramlila ground from where he and his supporters were evicted by the police. This time, we are campaigning against the Congress party to teach them a lesson,” said Esh Arya, the chief of Ramdev’s Bharat Swabhiman campaign in Hisar.
Although corruption is the major talking point, especially after Team Anna distributed around 10,000 compact discs carrying the message from Hazare asking people not to vote for the Congress candidate, as the party doesn’t support his version of the anti-graft bill.
Though the effect of Team Anna’s campaign would be gauged once the poll results are out, Hisar is not a Congress stronghold.
The Congress has fielded three-time MP from Hisar, Jai Prakash. He is pitted against Haryana Janhit Congress’ Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of Bhajan Lal, and main opposition Indian National Lok Dal’s Ajay Singh Chautala, the son of Om Prakash Chautala, another former CM.
In the 2009 general elections, Prakash stood third in this constituency, losing to Bhajan Lal, who had won with 248,000 votes, while Sampat Singh of INLD got 241,000 votes. Prakash had managed 204,000 votes.
Even as Team Anna members carried out road shows at wholesale markets, villages and road side dhabas, the fight in the by-election is between Kuldeep Bishnoi, the son of Bhajan Lal, who is riding high on the sympathy wave after the sudden death of his father and Ajay Chautala, the son of Om Prakash Chautala, another former CM, and a prominent Jat leader of the state.
The city, known for steel and cotton mills, is completely covered with banners of Kuldeep Vishnoi, who is being seen as a prominent non-Jat leader after Bhajan Lal with the backing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this by-election. Bishnoi is expected to get stiff competition from Ajay Chautala as more than 40 percent of total 1.3 million voters belong to the jat community.
