Huge banners carrying portraits of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal and former defence minister Bansi Lal dominate the re-demarcated constituency of Bhiwani-Mahendergarh where the grandchildren of the two veteran leaders are crossing swords to claim supremacy in the area.

Thirty-one-year-old Shruti Choudhry, daughter of Haryana minister Kiran Choudhry and granddaughter of Bansi Lal, is a first-timer in the electoral fray and was given the Congress ticket virtually at the eleventh hour. It was the culmination of a spirited fight between Kiran Choudhry and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was opposed to fielding Shruti and was keen to cut Kiran Choudhry to size. Kiran won the battle for her daughter, but faces an uphill task to have the last laugh.

Shruti’s main rival is Devi Lal’s grandson and former chief minister Om Parkash Chautala’s son Ajay Chautala. Unlike Shruti, the INLD candidate is a veteran of four elections from this constituency. He lost narrowly in the 1998 elections by a margin of 9,500 votes and staged a comeback with a huge margin of over 2 lakh the very next year. However, he tasted defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections when Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi won the seat. Bishnoi defeated his closest rival Surender Singh, Shruti’s father, by a margin of 19,000 votes while Ajay trailed with a similar margin behind him. Since then, Bishnoi has left the Congress and formed the Haryana Janhit Party. He has also opted out of the contest this time.

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