Three ‘Lals’ (Bansilal, Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal) have dominated the politics of Haryana. The political battle between the three was such that their governments kept forming and breaking in turns. Today, in the battle for the legacy of those powerful leaders, the family itself has become the political arena. There has been a fierce battle going on for a long time in the family of Chaudhary Devi Lal and his son Om Prakash Chautala. In the current assembly elections, his grandsons and granddaughters, i.e. brother and sister, have come face to face on the Tosham seat of Bhiwani district, which is the traditional seat of former CM Bansilal and the family stronghold.
BJP has given ticket to Shruti Chaudhary from this seat, while Congress has fielded Shruti’s brother Aniruddh Chaudhary against her. This area is the home area of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal. Bansi Lal or a member of his family has won from here a total of 14 times since 1967. Bansi Lal contested elections from here a total of seven times and won six times. Bansi Lal also became the Chief Minister of Haryana by winning from here. Outside the Bansi Lal family, only Dharambir Singh won twice in 1987 and 2000 on Lok Dal and Congress tickets.
Now Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Chaudhary and grandson Anirudh Chaudhary are face to face. Shruti along with her mother Kiran Chaudhary recently left Congress and joined BJP. Kiran, who won this seat four times in a row for Congress, is now a Rajya Sabha MP on BJP ticket. Kiran Chaudhary won this seat for the first time in 2005 in the by-election. Earlier, her husband Surendra Singh won the election in the same year, but after his death, Kiran took over the legacy of the vacant seat.
Kiran Chaudhary has also won the assembly elections on a Congress ticket from this seat in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2019. Now she is a Rajya Sabha MP of BJP and her daughter has been made the candidate by BJP on this ticket. After Kiran Chaudhary joined BJP, Congress has tried its luck on cricket administrator turned politician Anirudh Chaudhary. Anirudh Chaudhary is the son of Bansi Lal’s elder son Ranbir Mahendra, while Shruti is the daughter of Bansi Lal’s younger son Surendra Singh. In this way, both are brother and sister in relation.
48-year-old Anirudh is contesting the assembly elections for the first time. He is an LLB. He is the only grandson of Bansi Lal. Therefore, political experts believe that the Jats may lean towards him because earlier Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law was the only candidate from the family. Now that she has joined the BJP, her supporters can trust Anirudh Chaudhary. On the other hand, Shruti Chaudhary has a lot of experience in politics. She became an MP for the first time by winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, but she had to face defeat in 2014 and 2019. Congress did not give her a ticket in the year 2024.
Let us tell you that this is not the first time that there has been a fierce battle within Bansi Lal’s family for this seat. Earlier in the 1998 elections, Bansi Lal’s two sons Surendra Singh and Ranbir Mahendra contested against each other. While Ranbir Mahendra contested on a Congress ticket, Surendra Singh contested on his father’s party Haryana Vikas Party’s ticket and won. There has been a political battle between the two families since then.
