New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) Saturday introduced Haryana’s Congress-turned-BJP chief Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi because the occasion’s candidate for the upcoming Adampur bypolls.
The occasion additionally named two different candidates — Komatireddy Reddy Raj Gopal Reddy for the Munugode seat in Telangana and Aman Giri for the Gola Gokarnnath Meeting seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur. Whereas Reddy is a Congress turncoat who jumped ship from the Congress to the BJP in August, Giri is the son of late BJP MLA Arvind Giri, who died final month, necessitating a bypoll within the constituency.
The 29-year-old Bhavya Bishnoi is the grandson of the late Bhajan Lal, the former chief minister of Haryana. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 basic elections from Hisar, which he misplaced to BJP’s Brijendra Singh. Adampur, which is lengthy thought-about a stronghold of the Bishnoi household, comes below the identical parliamentary constituency.
Bhavya’s father Kuldeep was expelled from the Congress in June for cross-voting in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration in Rajya Sabha polls. That was the second time he was ousted from Congress for breaching the occasion line, having been expelled earlier than in 2007.
The Bishnois — Kuldeep, his two-time MLA spouse Renuka, and Bhavya — joined the BJP on 4 August.
A day earlier than becoming a member of the BJP, Kuldeep declared that the individuals of his constituency needed his son Bhavya to contest from Adampur — an meeting seat had held till then — as a BJP nominee.
Reddy was a sitting MLA from Munugode who additionally joined the BJP from the Congress in August.
For Kuldeep, the Adampur bypoll is essential — not solely has his household been representing the seat since 1968, however it’s going to even be Kuldeep’s probability to show his standing earlier than the BJP.
Kuldeep’s father Bhajan Lal had gained the seat from 1968 to 2000, whereas Bishnoi gained it in 2005, 2009, 2014, and 2019; and his spouse Renuka gained the seat within the 2012 bypoll.
“The elections are essential as Bishnoi must show his mettle to the BJP. He has been making statements that the individuals of the world need his son to contest from the seat so now’s the time for him to show it,” stated a senior BJP chief. For the BJP, profitable Adampur, a seat that has been with the Congress, is essential.
“Bishnoi had defeated BJP’s Sonali Phogat by about 29,000 votes and earlier than that additionally it had remained with the Congress. The BJP is hoping to win the seat this time with the Bishnoi household contesting from right here,” stated a senior BJP chief.
In the meantime, the Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) has introduced Satender Singh, a BJP turncoat, for the seat. Singh was earlier related to the Congress.
The Election Fee of India Monday introduced bypolls in seven constituencies, together with Andheri East (Maharashtra), Mokama (Bihar), Gopalganj (Bihar), Adampur (Haryana), Munugode (Telangana), Gola Gokrannath (Uttar Pradesh) and Dhamnagar (Odisha). Elections shall be held on 3 November and votes shall be counted on 6 November.
Additionally learn: 3 states, thrice the difficulty: Why Congress struggles gained’t finish in Punjab, Haryana & Rajasthan
In Munugode, a high-stakes battle between TRS and BJP
One other high-pitched battle would be the bypoll in Munugode — a seat in Telangana’s Nalgonda district, the place the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi is engaged in a ferocious combat towards the BJP.
The bypoll was necessitated after then-sitting Congress Legislative member Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy resigned from the publish and in addition stop the occasion, expressing his displeasure at having to work below then newly-appointed Congress Chief Revanth Reddy, a pacesetter who had joined the Congress from the Telugu Desam Celebration in 2017.
Raj Gopal Reddy referred to as Revanth Reddy “an outsider” and alleged that he was not consulted over the appointment.
The MLA was referring to Revanth Reddy’s appointment as Telangana Congress’s chief in 2021. Revanth Reddy jumped to Congress from Telugu Desam Celebration in 2017.
When he joined the BJP in August, Raj Gopal Reddy claimed his transfer was aimed toward preventing the ruling occasion Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS, now renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi, or BRS, topic to Election Fee’s approval).
His determination to stop the occasion got here as no shock — he has been talking out publicly about what he claims are issues plaguing the occasion, comparable to inner administration issues, a scarcity of coordination between the Congress excessive command and the state’s leaders, and poor functioning.
Raj Gopal Reddy’s brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is a Congress MP.
Munugode is the fifth by-election that Telangana is seeing since Chief Minister Ok.Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR, was sworn in for a second time period in 2018. The BJP has gained two of the 4 meeting bypolls and the TRS has gained the remainder.
Each events have been going all out for the Munugode seat — which is being seen extensively as a semi-final earlier than subsequent yr’s meeting elections. The Congress in the meantime has been pushed to 3rd place within the battle.
The BJP has been increasing within the southern state — the occasion, which managed to win just one meeting seat within the 2018 polls, now has three MLAs. It additionally went from having a single MP in Telangana to profitable 4 seats within the 2019 basic elections.
The occasion’s rising footprint in Telangana has turn into a trigger for fear for the ruling TRS and Chief Minister KCR.
BJP leaders and its candidate Reddy have already began campaigning within the constituency. They’re additionally conducting bike rallies and door-to-door campaigns to achieve out to voters, and are even getting the occasion’s central leaders for public conferences.
As an example, a public assembly at which Raj Gopal Reddy joined the BJP in August noticed Union House Minister Amit Shah marketing campaign for Reddy.
TRS has pitted Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy as its candidate for the Munugode seat. Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy had gained the seat in 2014 however misplaced it to Raj Gopal Reddy within the final meeting election in 2018.
The ruling occasion accuses Raj Gopal Reddy of getting joined the BJP in trade for Rs 18,000 crore-worth of mining contracts that his firm Sushee Infra bagged.
The Congress, in the meantime, has fielded Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, daughter of late Congress veteran Palvai Govardhan Reddy, as its candidate. Her father was a five-time MLA from Munugode and a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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