Virender Sehwag campaigns for Congress candidate in Tosham
Notably his campaign is targeted against Shruti Choudhry, who is daughter of BJP newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Chaudhry.
Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag on Wednesday (2 October) campaigned for Congress candidate Anirudh Chaudhary for the Tosham assembly constituency for Haryana assembly elections which are going to be held on 5 October. Notably his campaign is targeted against Shruti Choudhry, who is daughter of BJP newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Chaudhry. Formerly, both Kiran and Shruti belonged to Congress but they joined BJP after the culmination of Lok Sabha election results in June. Soon after this, Kiran was given the Rajya Sabha ticket.
Shruti is in the race for Tosham seat since her family has had a strong political hold on the region for years. Kiran has been the member from this constituency since 2005 and is the daughter in law of former Chief Minister of Haryana Chaudhry Bansi Lal. For the Tosham constituency, Bansi Lal had secured the victory five times while his son-in-law, Surender Singh, who is married to Kiran, was victorious three times in the same area. After Surender’s death in 2005, Kiran was able to win the by-election and has since been in a position to maintain the area.
Shruti Choudhry got elected as a Lok Sabha MP in 2009 from Bhiwani on a Congress ticket but since then she suffered losses in 2014 and 2019 general elections to BJP candidates out of which she was denied the Congress ticket for 2024 general elections. After joining the BJP, she was selected for contesting in her mother’s assembly seat of Tosham. Meanwhile, the Congress nominated Anirudh Chaudhry, former BCCI treasurer for the same seat.
During campaigning, Sehwag addressed Anirudh as his elder brother and asked the people of Tosham to vote for him. Tosham is also pertinent to Anirudh. Tosham has political relevance and personal meaning for Anirudh also because it has been in his family. He is the grandson of Bansi Lal who himself was the Chief Minister of Haryana. Both the candidates are directly related to Bansi Lal and linking both the candidates is quite easy as Shruti is daughter of Surender Singh and Anirudh is son of Ranbir Singh Mahendra.
Ranbir Singh Mahendra also held the BCCI president post in 2004-2005 which is the time that Sehwag got so much support from him. This family rivalry saw Sehwag supporting Anirudh during the battle where they are cousins. There hasn’t been a direct alliance but both Anirudh backed key issues such as farmers, water, and regions, while having words against the ruling BJP government.
Ranbir Singh Mahendra also had his time as BCCI president in 2004-2005 a time when Sehwag accepted that he was offered a lot of support. Sehwag is supporting Anirudh in the battle of the cousins. While campaigning together, Anirudh used the basic issues like farmer’s problem, scarcity of water and development of the region and also used bitter comments against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party govt.
You might also be interested in – Congress unveils ‘Laapataa Ladies Campaign’, Targets women’s issues ahead of Maharashtra elections
