Chandigarh: Pitted against his cousin and Congress rival Mohd Illyas, BJP candidate from Punhana segment of Haryana's Nuh district Mohd Aizaz Khan said employment, health and education will be his focus and asserted that the lotus bloom will bloom in the region.
Khan is among two candidates from the Muslim community fielded by the BJP for the Haryana polls, the other being Naseem Ahmed, a former MLA, who is in fray from the Ferozepur Jhirkha segment.
The BJP candidate said people remember the time when his father Chaudhary Sardar Khan, a former Haryana minister, gave jobs to nearly 4,600 youth from Mewat region.
"Employment, health, and education will be my top focus (if elected). My aim will also be to bring a university to the region, improve infrastructure and fulfil the dreams which my father had for this region...Going by the huge support of the people I am getting, I am confident that 'lotus' will bloom here," the 56-year-old law graduate told PTI.
He asserted that the BJP government in Haryana has also given thousands of jobs to the youth across the state purely on merit basis, "The government has ended the 'parchi, kharchi' system which prevailed earlier and now jobs are given purely on merit basis and people in our region have also got jobs," Khan, who faces Congress rival and his cousin Mohd Illyas in the contest, said.
Both Punhana and Ferozepur-Jhirkha constituencies fall in Muslim-dominated Nuh district in Mewat region.
While Ahmed had earlier switched over to the BJP from the INLD, Khan joined the saffron outfit after leaving Congress five years ago.
From Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirkha, the Congress has fielded its sitting MLAs--Mohd Ilyas and Mamman Khan.
About last year's Nuh riots, Khan said peace and brotherhood prevails.
In Ferozepur Jhirkha, Ahmed's supporters appear confident about his win.
"Inshallah, Naseem bhai is going to win this time," Tasleem Khan, a supporter of the former MLA, said.