Sitting Congress MP from Karnal Arvind Sharma, who had threatened to quit and join the BSP last year, prior to the trust vote in Parliament, has been renominated as the party’s candidate from Karnal. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son and Rohtak MP Deepinder Hooda take the credit of bringing back Sharma into the party fold. The Hoodas are now going out of their way to help Sharma in his campaigning, especially in the Jat-dominated areas of Panipat.

Deepinder, the youngest Congress candidate in the state at 31, spent an entire day this week campaigning alongside Sharma in as many as 23 villages of the constituency, seeking votes for his ‘uncle’ who is only 39 years old. The CM has already campaigned in the constituency, seeking votes for his “younger brother”.

Sharma is locked in a three-cornered contest here with former MP I D Swami of the BJP and Maratha Virender Verma of the BSP. There are other candidates from smaller parties in the fray, but they are only on the fringe.

Brahmins may not be the majority community in the constituency, but somehow the seat is considered very much theirs. In the last few years, it is Brahmin candidates — be it Arvind Sharma, or

I D Swami, or Bhagwat Dayal Sharma, or Chiranji Lal, father of Kuldeep Sharma, working president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee — who have won from this seat. This time, both the Congress and the BJP have fielded Brahmin candidates, while the BSP is banking on a candidate from the Rode community and the Haryana Janhit Congress on a Punjabi, Ramesh Chhabra.

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