JJP fields Digvijay Chautala against Hooda from Sonepat

The fledgling Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on Monday announced three more candidates for Lok Sabha elections, including Digvijay Chautala from Sonepat against former Haryana chief minister and Congress candidate Bhupinder Singh Hooda. It fielded Jai Bhagwan Sharma from Kurukshetra and Mehmood Khan from Gurgaon, a party spokesperson said.

Founded by Ajay Chautala, father of Digvijay Chautala, in December last year, JJP is contesting the Lok Sabha election in Haryana in alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on three seats, while JJP is fighting on the remaining seven seats in the state. On Sunday, AAP announced the name of its three candidates in Haryana, prominent among them was its state unit chief Naveen Jaihind from Faridabad.

Jaihind is considered a confidant of AAP national chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

JJP was formed after a split in the Indian National Lok Dal following a feud in the Chautala clan. Ajay Chautala and his sons --- Dushyant and Digvijay --- were expelled from the Haryana-based party.

JJP has announced candidates on other seats in Haryana previously. It has fielded Dushyant Chautala from Hisar, who is seeking re-election from the seat.

With the Hisar MP’s younger brother too entering the fray, two members from Ajay Chautala’s family are contesting the general election.

Digvijay Chautala had unsuccessfully fought the Jind bypoll in January this year.

AAP had extended support to Digvijay Chautala in the bypoll, which the ruling BJP won.

On Sunday, Congress fielded its heavyweight and former CM Hooda from Sonepat. BJP has re-nominated its sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik from Sonipat.

Sonepat parliament constituency has a sizeable number of Jat voters and both Hooda and Digvijay Chautala belong to the community.

The JJP spokesperson said Mehmood Khan, who has been fielded from Gurgaon, is an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate and has worked in multi-national companies.

Jai Bhagwan Sharma had resigned as BJP’s state executive committee member in November 2018 and later joined JJP. He had contested the 2014 assembly election from Pehowa but lost.

The filing of nomination papers for all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will close on April 23. Polling will be held in the sixth phase on May 12.