‘Bahu’ vs ‘bahu’ vs ‘chacha sasur’: Chautalas fight among themselves in Hisar LS seat

Hisar: The stage is set for a riveting electoral battle in Haryana’s Hisar Lok Sabha constituency where three members of the influential Chautala family, split along political lines, have locked horns.

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLA Naina Chautala, and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Sunaina Chautala -- the two ‘bahus’ or daughters-in-law of the Chautala clan -- and BJP’s Ranjit Singh Chautala are pitted against each other.

Ranjit Chautala is the brother of the fathers-in-law of Sunaina Chautala and Naina Chautala -- a relationship sometimes referred to as ‘chacha sasur’.

The Congress has fielded three-time MP and veteran leader Jai Prakash from the seat. Naina Chautala (57) is the wife of JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala and mother of former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.

INLD Women Wing general secretary Sunaina Chautala (47) is the wife of party leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s cousin Ravi Chautala. Ravi Chautala is the son of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala’s younger brother late Partap Singh Chautala.

While both the INLD-JJP candidates claimed to do more for the welfare of the state’s farmers -- a sizeable voting group -- the BJP nominee expressed confidence that the development work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would ensure the party’s victory on all 10 seats.

Sunaina Chautala said the voters will confront her BJP and JJP rivals on the issue of the farmers’ protest that went on for 13 months against the now-repealed farm laws.

“Under the BJP rule, farmers, Anganwadi and ASHA workers, employees, and sarpanches were on the path of agitation in support of their demands,” said Sunaina Chautala. The BJP and the JJP had formed an alliance in Haryana after the 2019 Assembly polls. It ended in March 2024 as chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar resigned to make way for a new BJP government led by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

She also questioned the BJP candidate’s claims of development in the state, saying it was not visible on the ground. It has become clear that the BJP-JJP only want power, she added.

Sunaina Chautala pointed out that Abhay Chautala, who was the lone MLA of his party, resigned from the assembly amid the farmers’ stir in support of them.

She said her party is following the principles and carrying forward the ideology of the late Jat patriarch Chaudhary Devi Lal.