Rohtak(Haryana) : Despite BJP`s all out effort to make a dent into this Jat citadel, Deepender Singh Hooda, son of former state chief minister and Haryana`s biggest Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is confident of retaining his seat in the Lok Sabha election for the seat on May 12.

Ahead of the Polling for this Parliamentary constituency, sitting MP Deepender Hooda and his team are confident of winning this seat with a huge margin for the fourth straight term . 

Hooda had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, amid a strong ‘Modi wave’ to emerge as the only Congress leader in the state to make it to Lok Sabha in 2014, by defeating BJP`s O P Dhankar by a margin of over 1.70 lakh votes. 

BJP won seven seats it 2014 while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won two seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Deepender Hooda won the seat last time despite being bed-ridden due to slipped disc problem.

In these elections, the Congress leader is mainly depending on the development works carried out during his father`s tenure as the Chief Minister.

The BJP has fielded Congress turncoat Arvind Sharma who joined the party ahead of election. Mr Sharma was Congress MP from karnal Lok Sabha seat won in 2009.

Also in the fray from the seat are candidates of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD and newly formed party Jannayak Janata party, making the election for the Rohtak seat a multi cornered contest.

People in Rohtak says that the entire campaigning is primarily focused on Jats and non-Jats issues. There is a clear division between Jats and other 35 `biradaris` (castes), consisting of Brahmins, Bania, Khatri, OBC and SC that account for over 30 per cent of the 16 lakh voters in the district.

"Deepender and his father have done a lot of work in Rohtak. And that is visible, but the people are annoyed with them due to the Jat agitation." a local school teacher said.

The forward castes feel that the “father and son duo" (Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deependra Hooda) did not protect the other ‘biradaris’ and supported the Jats during their 2016 agitation against the reservation policy, the school teacher further said. 

They sat idle at home and let the town burnt for two days, locals feel.

Bijendra Sangwan, a resident of Jhajjar road, said "We cannot forget the February 2016 Jat agitation when we saw many people armed with guns and knives coming on vehicles and going around damaging property and looting shops." 

However, the Congress supporters reject these allegations and said that party has always worked for the betterment of the whole society.

“Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Chief Minister, has done all round development of Rohtak and worked for the all 36 biradaris. Even Deepender lives in the Rohtak as a common man and is very popular in the entire constituency’, a Meham town resident Hariom said.

The upper classes, including Brahmin and Punjabis, are supporting BJP here and call present CM Manohar Lal Khattar as ‘Sada Mukhya Mantri’(our CM). 

The Banias, however, are little annoyed with the BJP over demonetization and GST.

Despite the fact the 2016 Jat mayhem looms over here, Congress MP Deependra Hood is confident of retaining his seat as he talks mostly about rebuilding in the district the social coalition of different caste groups, which was disrupted after the mayhem of 2016.

A retail shop owner in Jhajjar Pankaj Gupta feels that junior Hooda will retain his seat as he worked hard to restore the peace and harmony in Rohtak.

“He played a crucial role in patching up the divide between the Jats and non Jats, arisen after the agitation which witnessed large rampage in the city,`he said.

Many shops and commercial establishments were burnt and destroyed by the Jat agitators in February 2016.

This time round, however, the INLD and JJP may also make some dent to the Jat vote bank here in Rohtak. The JJP candidate Pradeep Deshwal is popular among the first time voters in the constituency.

An LLB from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak Pardeep Deshwal was heading the INLD’s national student wing. 

The Congress leaders`s prospects here have also been boosted by the huge gathering in the road show of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on May 7. Priyanka`s roadshow has boosted the morale of the Congress workers.

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