Two brothers vie for same votes in R'than

Two brothers, both former Indian Police Service officers, are pitted against each other in Rajasthan's Dausa parliamentary constituency where the electorate has to be make do with this “peculiar situation”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Harish Chandra Meena who took voluntary retirement to contest the Lok Sabha election. And against him is Namo Narain Meena who is the Congress candidate.

One brother hardly speaks anything against the other during public rallies and election campaigning in Dausa, where voting takes place on April 24 and also on April 17 in another phase elsewhere in the state. 

Harish Chandra had been director general of the state’s police while Namo Narain Meena, an ex IPS official and two times member of parliament, is union minister of state for finance in the current United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

“It is quite a peculiar situation as both candidates are brothers. They were rarely seen together on public platforms before the elections, so everyone was curious how they would campaign against each other. However, both are trying to avoid making any personal comments,” said Deshraj Meena, a resident of Dausa.

Another resident Satish Meena said that Namo Narain is harping on the UPA's development work, while his brother is trying to woo the voters in the name of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Interesting contest

Experts say that the election battle will be very interesting in Dausa, as three prominent Meena leaders are in the fray from the seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (SC/ST).

“A local leader and (chief of National People’s Party) Kirori Lal Meena is also in the fray. It has made the fight a very close one,” said a political observer. Hence, the votes of the dominating community are expected to get divided, a situation which may benefit some Independent candidates in Dausa.

“Two independent candidates, Anju Dhanka and Shivpal Gujjar, may get votes of people from other communities, excluding Meena,” he added.