Gurugram: The BJP’s decision to induct industrialist Naveen Jindal and field him as its Kurukshetra candidate was driven by caste calculations and his “good works” as a two-term Congress MP from the constituency, according to BJP leaders and political observers in Haryana.
Sources in the state BJP also said the party needed to mollify the Agrawal community in the state as there was a possibility of a backlash from them following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is an Agrawal from Haryana.
After Jindal quit the Congress to join the BJP Sunday, the Congress’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh took a dig at him on X.
When you need a giant-size washing machine, this had to happen. And after making ZERO contributions to the party in the last ten years, saying I am resigning from it is a big joke.https://t.co/yjNO1cl1ME pic.twitter.com/1E9R0mIaJC
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 24, 2024
The PM wanted a Congress-mukt Bharat. Instead he has made a Corrupt-mukt Congress by deploying so many washing machines along with the ED and the CBI to force corrupt Congressmen to flee to his embrace! https://t.co/bZtQ1L7CCk
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 24, 2024
BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma denied any pressure on Jindal and maintained that the former Congress leader had joined the party because of his own conviction in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies and the concept of ‘Viksit India’.
“The BJP didn’t have any dearth of candidates to field from Kurukshetra. Today, everyone knows that PM Narendra Modi is going to form the government for the third time and that too with a bigger majority than ever before. The BJP always believes in fielding the best possible candidates in the elections and that was the reason the party chose Jindal for Kurukshetra,” Sharma added.
Mahabir Jaglan, a Kurukshetra-based political analyst, said two factors seemed to have prompted the BJP to field Jindal from Kurukshetra — his Agrawal community identity and his record as an MP from 2004 to 2014.
“The Agrawal community comprises nearly 4 percent of the state’s total population. Being traders largely, they have been traditional voters of the BJP. However, since Arvind Kejriwal’s rise in politics, they have developed a soft corner for him. After Kejriwal’s arrest by the ED, the BJP is wary of the shift of Agrawal voters from its fold,” Jaglan told ThePrint.
He added: “The AAP, which is in alliance with the Congress, had already announced Sushil Gupta, an Agrawal, for Kurukshetra seat. Hence it became almost incumbent upon BJP to field at least one Agrawal candidate in Haryana.”
Jaglan further said that Jindal’s performance during his two terms as MP from 2004 to 2014 was considered fairly good because he kept his connections with the people and ran many skill training programmes, schemes and development works through NGOs under the Corporate Social Responsibility of his business houses.
“Even if he could not remain present everywhere, Jindal had a strong team in Kurukshetra that attended almost every wedding in the constituency he got an invitation for and delivered shagun to the bride and groom,” said Jaglan.
Jindal’s personal website gives details of the projects taken up by him in Kurukshetra as its MP.
According to political analyst Hemant Atri, there could be no bigger example of a “political bankruptcy” than a party in power for 10 years having to “import” a candidate from another party for a seat being represented in Parliament by its chief minister.
“CM Nayab Singh Saini is the sitting MP from Kurukshetra. He has still not resigned from this seat. And still, the BJP doesn’t have a candidate from its cadre who could win this seat. Several surveys by the BJP revealed that the party was losing Kurukshetra and the only way the party could come into the contest was if Jindal contested on the BJP ticket. Facing criminal charges in the CBI court and a separate ED case of money laundering, Jindal was roped in and given the ticket,” Atri said.
He said if one looks at the BJP’s 10 candidates in Haryana, only Banto Kataria (Ambala), Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal), and Mohan Lal Badoli (Sonipat) are from the BJP’s cadre, the remaining seven have been taken from other political parties.
ThePrint reached Jindal for comment via phone and messages. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
Also Read: In its latest list, BJP fields Dharmendra Pradhan & Naveen Jindal, drops Gen VK Singh & Varun Gandhi
Who is Naveen Jindal?
Naveen Jindal is the chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, one of India’s leading steel manufacturers, with a significant presence in steel, power, mining, and infrastructure, with business operations spanning across India, Africa, and Australia. He is the youngest of the four sons of businessman-politician late O.P. Jindal and his wife Savitri Jindal.
On 23 January 2004, the Supreme Court had delivered a historic judgment on Naveen Jindal’s petition seeking a change in the flag code to allow every citizen to display it throughout the year.
Jindal had moved this petition in 1995 after local authorities asked him to remove the tricolour from his factory in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh (then Madhya Pradesh).
Jindal considered this prohibition as an infringement on his freedom of expression, a fundamental right as enshrined in the Constitution under Article 19(1)(a), and moved the writ petition. The Supreme Court ruled in his favour, saying that flying the tricolour is a part of the freedom of expression.
Jindal is facing CBI and ED cases in connection with alleged allocation of coal blocks to his firms. In July 2019, a special CBI court in Delhi had framed charges against Jindal and four other officials in connection with the allocation of the Urtan North coal block in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly making incorrect claims and deceiving the coal ministry for the allocation. The case is now at the trial stage.
Jindal family’s politics
The Jindal family made its political debut in the late 1980s when, after a series of run-ins with the Bhajan Lal-led Congress government (1982-1986), Naveen Jindal’s father O.P. Jindal, the founder of Jindal Steels, developed proximity with Bhajan Lal’s bête noire in the Haryana Congress, Bansi Lal.
When Bansi Lal quit the Congress to launch his political outfit Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) in 1991, the senior Jindal was among the founding members.
O.P. Jindal successfully contested his first election in the 1991 assembly polls when he defeated Om Prakash Mahajan of the Congress by a margin of over 4,000 votes.
However, in 1996, O.P. Jindal shifted his political base from Hisar to Kurukshetra and successfully contested the parliamentary poll from there on the HVP ticket.
In the next parliamentary polls held in 1998, Jindal lost to Kailasho Saini of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
After this, Jindal quit the HVP to join the Congress and shifted his base to his hometown Hisar again, where he successfully contested an assembly poll in 2000. In 2004, Bansi Lal also merged his party into the Congress.
In the parliamentary elections held in 2004, Naveen Jindal was fielded by the Congress from Kurukshetra where he defeated Abhay Singh Chautala of the INLD by over 1.50 lakh votes.
O.P. Jindal won from Hisar again in the 2005 assembly polls, and became a member of the Cabinet in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government on 5 March 2005. However, within days of becoming a minister, Jindal along with another cabinet minister, Surender Singh, died in a helicopter crash on 31 March 2005.
In the bypoll that ensued for the Hisar assembly seat, O.P. Jindal’s widow Savitri Jindal was the winner. She again went on to win the seat in 2009. In the parliamentary polls held in 2009, Naveen Jindal also defeated Ashok Arora of the INLD by over 1 lakh votes.
In 2014, Naveen Jindal dropped to the third position after winner Raj Kumar Saini of the BJP and runner-up Balbir Singh Saini of the INLD, in Kurukshetra. His mother lost her assembly seat to Dr Kamal Gupta of the BJP in assembly polls held in October that year.
In 2019, both Naveen Jindal and his mother Savitri opted out of parliamentary and assembly contests respectively.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)