Foe turns friend, plays hand in Shruti win from Tosham

Chandigarh: It is said that politics is a realm of endless possibilities, a sentiment that rang true in Haryana’s assembly elections when Bhiwani MP Dharambir Singh — a long-time rival of the Bansi Lal family who had defeated three generations of the former CM — was seen standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the family in Tosham.
Dharambir not only supported Shruti Choudhry, Bansi Lal’s granddaughter, who won the seat as a BJP candidate, but also campaigned door-to-door alongside his “bete noire” Kiran Choudhry (Shruti's mother,).The efforts by Dharambir Singh and Kiran have also ensured five of six seats in two districts — Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri — went in BJP’s favour.
This deadly combination of traditional rivals has benefitted the saffron party as three seats of Bhiwani, including Tosham, Bhiwani and Bawani Khera, were won by BJP. The party lost the fourth, Loharu seat. Similarly, both these Jat leaders had also ensured the party candidate’s victory on two seats, Charkhi-Dadri and Badhra of Charkhi Dadri district, where they had campaigned for party nominees.
Dharambir Singh had defeated Bansi Lal from Tosham seat in 1987 as a Lok Dal candidate. In 2000, he had defeated Bansi Lal’s son and Kiran’s husband Surender Singh from Tosham and in 2014 parliamentary polls, Singh had defeated Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats. Even in 2014 assembly polls, Dharambir’s brother, Lala, had given a tough fight to Kiran in Tosham.
Dharambir had joined BJP in 2014 after quitting Congress and Kiran switched to BJP from Congress after Lok Sabha elections in June. She was sent to Rajya Sabha by BJP and her daughter given ticket from Tosham. Kiran had to face a tough contest because of Anirudh Chaudhary, son of Bansi Lal’s elder son, fielded by Congress against her daughter. The result has also reflected that BJP has been strengthened in these two districts because of the combination of the two stalwarts.