Latest News | Father & Son-in-law Fight It out at Himachal Hustings
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. In Solan assembly constituency of Himachal Pradesh, the fight between the BJP and the Congress would not be the only thing that would be keenly watched.
Shimla, Nov 10 (PTI) In Solan assembly constituency of Himachal Pradesh, the fight between the BJP and the Congress would not be the only thing that would be keenly watched.
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It's also a battle of prestige between a father-in-law and his son-in-law as they contest against each other for the two main rival parties in the reserved seat.
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Sitting Congress legislator Dhani Ram Shandil is pitted against the BJP's Rajesh Kashyap, who is his son-in-law also.
Kashyap, who had entered the fray from Solan for the first time, acknowledged that fighting against a close relative was not an easy choice to make.
"I've seen brothers contesting against each other and daughters contesting against their father," the doctor-turned-politician told PTI.
Asked if he attacked his Congress rival in his public meetings, Kashyap replied: "I put forward my party's agenda. That's what I'm doing."
Kashyap exuded confidence of winning Solan, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a poll campaign last week.
In the 2017 election, Shandil held on to his seat by a narrow margin of 671 votes.
Hours before the campaign for the November 12 polls was to close on Thursday evening, Shandil held a series of public meetings in his constituency.
Though he did take Kashyap's name directly, the 82-year-old appealed to the people with "folded hands" to not vote for the BJP vote "even by mistake".
"The BJP has not carried out any development in the state. This is the time to teach them a lesson," says Shandil, who is a retired colonel.
Kashyap was professor of medicine at Indira Gandhi Medical College at Shimla before he took the plunge into politics a few years ago for a "desire to serve a large number of people and help them as much as I could".
The BJP candidate says he would redress the issues of sewerage and parking problems in the urban area of Solan.
"In the rural areas, most people are into agriculture and they mainly grow tomatoes and capsicum. We will ask for the government's Market Intervention Scheme for the crop," he said.
The state goes to the polls on November 12 and the votes will be counted on December 8.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)