CHANDIGARH: Former Haryana minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and seven other leaders were expelled by the BJP for six years on Sunday after they decided to contest the October 5 state assembly polls as independent candidates.The Haryana BJP said its chief Mohan Lal Badoli has expelled these leaders for a period of six years with immediate effect.Besides Chautala, Sandeep Garg (contesting the polls from Ladwa), Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Devender Kadian (Ganaur), Bachan Singh Arya (Safidon), Radha Ahlawat (Meham), Naveen Goel (Gurugram) and Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin) have been expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Earlier, Ranjit, the brother of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, resigned from the Cabinet after being denied a ticket by the party for the upcoming assembly polls. He had unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary polls from Hisar.Chautala decided to run as an independent candidate from Rania, the seat he represented in the Assembly when he was an independent MLA.”I will contest as an independent candidate from the Rania Assembly constituency. It is the decision of the people of my constituency. After I did not get the ticket, I took this decision,” he told ANI.The BJP has fielded Shishpal Kamboj to contest from the Rania seat in its first list of candidates. Chautala decided to quit the saffron party after he was denied the ticket.Meanwhile, Sandeep Garg has filed nomination papers from the Ladwa constituency against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8. The BJP is eyeing a return to power in the state for a third consecutive term.The Haryana Congress expelled 13 leaders on Friday for “anti-party activities” over their decision to contest the polls as independent candidates.Several leaders of both the BJP and the Congress were upset over being denied tickets to contest the Assembly polls, but the parties have managed to pacify most of them.(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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