Hisar mayoral polls: It’s Punjabi versus Bania battle

HISAR: The mayoral election for Hisar municipal corporation has turned out to be a race vs caste battle. With the BJP announcing Punjabi leader Gautam Sardana (who had joined BJP recently after parting ways with Kuldeep Bishnoi) as its candidate, former minister of Congress Savitri Jindal and Bishnoi have lent weight behind Rekha Eran (a Bania), who will fight the poll as an independent.

Although INLD and some independents are there in the fray, the BJP and Congress-backed candidates are considered to be the strongest contenders.
Like in other municipal corporations, Hisar MC will also see direct mayoral elections for the first time.
Generally, the assembly elections of Hisar city constituency are often considered to be Punjabi versus Bania or Saini versus Bania or a triangular battle.
As soon as the BJP announced the name of Gautam Sardana as mayoral candidate on December 1, Rekha’s husband Hanuman Eran (who had joined BJP four years back) started avoiding political events of the party.
As the Congress had refused to contest this election on party symbol, former minister Savitri Jindal had reportedly considered to back former mayor Shakuntala Rajaliwala as a candidate.
But the situation changed soon and Savitri decided to support Rekha Eran. Since Eran had fought this election against Gautam Sardana earlier too, the Jindal family approached Kuldeep Bishnoi to back Rekha.
On December 5, Savitri Jindal and Renuka Bishnoi declared Rekha Eran as their joint candidate. Though Congress state president Ashok Tanwar had refused to support Rekha, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had extended support to her.
Interestingly, on December 8, Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra who belong to Bania community, wrote a letter to BJP candidate Gautam Sardana to remove his photographs from latter’s posters.
Independent candidate Arvind Kharinta, former chairman of the municipal council, Rekha Saini, daughter-in-law of former minister Hari Singh Saini and INLD candidate Amit Saini are also trying hard to make their presence felt in the contest.