Another 'son rise' in BJP, minister's son enters fray

The BJP on Sunday announced the candidature of former IAS officer Brijendra Singh, the son of Union Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh, from Hisar Lok Sabha seat in Haryana, marking the transition of leadership in a prominent political family of the state.

In a bid to blunt the criticism of "dynastic politics", Birendra Singh announced that he has offered to resign from the Union Cabinet, give up his Rajya Sabha membership and "quit politics" altogether to allow a smooth run for his son's electoral innings.

"He has a legacy to follow, which I inherited from my grandfather Sir Chhotu Ram," Birendra Singh said about his son's electoral debut. He had quit the Congress ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections after a 42-year-stint.

Brijendra Singh is a 1998-batch IAS officer, who was last posted as managing director, Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (HAFED).

The BJP fielded former Congressman Arvind Sharma, who joined the party last month, from Rohtak Lok Sabha seat from where Congress has re-nominated sitting member Deepender Hooda, the son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sharma made his Lok Sabha debut from Sonepat in 1996 as an independent candidate. He joined the Congress party in 1999 and later represented the Karnal seat in 2004 and 2009, but lost it to BJP’s Ashwani Chopra in 2014.

BJP also declared three candidates from Madhya Pradesh and one from Rajasthan. In MP, Bishnu Datt Sharma will be in the fray from Khajuraho, G S Damor (Ratlam), and Chhatar Singh Darbar (Dhar).

In Rajasthan, the BJP has fielded Jaskaur Meena, a former minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee council of ministers, from Dausa. She will take on Savita Meena of the Congress. In 2014, this seat was won by top cop-turned-politician Harish Chandra Meena of the BJP. He quit the seat last year to join the Congress.