Haryana: Brother-in-law and brother-in-law made it to the House in the first ever voting

Haryana: The recently concluded assembly elections were interesting in many ways. There was a contest between grandfather-grandson, brother-sister and uncle-nephew, while the brother-in-law-brother duo also managed to win the electoral battle. BJP’s newly elected MLAs Dr Krishan Kumar from Bawal (Rewari) and Harinder Singh from Hodal (Palwal) decided to enter politics after taking voluntary retirement from government service and defeated Congress veterans in their first elections itself. While Harinder defeated Haryana Pradesh Congress chief Udaybhan, Kumar defeated former minister Muni Lal Ranga. The 55-year-old belongs to the SC community and is now in the race for a ministerial post. Considered a loyalist of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Kumar was given a ticket by the BJP a day after he took VRS from the post of Director (Health Services). His entry into the electoral battle was surprising as he replaced two-time MLA from Bawal and PWD minister Dr Banwari Lal. “Harinder is my brother-in-law and it is a matter of pride that we both won and got a chance to work for the betterment of every section of society,” Kumar said, adding that they had campaigned for each other. Harinder, son of former MLA Ram Ratan, had quit his job just before the assembly elections in 2019 but could not get a BJP ticket. He remained active in the party for the next five years and managed to get a ticket from Hodal this time. His unique style of campaigning made national headlines when he did ‘dandavat pranam’ before elders. It clearly worked for him and he won the Hodal seat in a close contest. Before joining politics, I had worked as additional private secretary to then Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and later worked in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Central government. In 2019, I opted for VRS after the BJP offered me a ticket but it did not happen,” Harinder told the Tribune.