Balram
Jakhar was born on 23rd August, 1923 in Panjkosi in District Ferozepur,
Punjab and educated at Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan .
Jakhar, twice Lok Sabha speaker, was shifted from the Sikar to Bikaner,
the second-largest constituency spread over four districts and bordering
Pakistan.Jakhar was elected to the Lower House from Sikar in Rajasthan
in 1984 and 1991. In 1989, he was drubbed by former deputy prime
minister Devi Lal in Sikar and was denied a Congress ticket in 1996
following his indictment in the hawala scandal. He was keen on
contesting from Sikar this time too, but was instead nominated from
Bikaner. He had won the Ferozepur seat in Punjab in 1980. Jakhar is
camping in Bikaner with several hundred of his supporters from Punjab.
His three sons -- former Punjab minister Sajjan Jakhar, Indian Farmers
and Fertilisers Corporation chairman Surendra Jakhar and Sunil Jakhar --
spearhead the campaign. Bikaner has all the portents of a Titanic
contest between stature and support as it goes to the polls . Former
Union minister Balram will pit his stature against the support of former
Rajasthan irrigation minister Dev Singh Bhati.
