A man in a grey safari suit, who does not want to be named, relaxes on a sofa in a visitors’ room at the residence of Haryana Industries and Commerce Minister Rao Narbir in Gurugram’s Civil Lines. This is an older part of Delhi’s suburb that has government offices and low-rise buildings. Across National Highway 48, the artery that connects Delhi to Gurugram, are shiny high-rise corporate offices and gated condominiums.

The bespectacled man says, “Rao Narbir and Inderjit Singh are the only two mass Ahir leaders in Haryana. In any village in south Haryana, there are two factions among the Ahirs, each supporting one of them.” He is waiting for an audience with Narbir.

On the wall behind the sofa hangs a larger-than-life photograph of Narbir, 64, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah sitting across from each other having a one-on-one conversation. A collage on the opposite wall captures the political journey of Narbir’s family since pre-Independence days.

Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh, 75, referred to as ‘Raja ji’ owing to his royal roots, is the Union Minister of State for Planning. Inderjit is a descendant of Rewari king Rao Tula Ram, one of the leaders of the First War of Independence in 1857 in Haryana. Taking forward his political legacy is his daughter and Haryana Health Minister Arti Singh Rao, a first-time MLA from Ateli.

Both Narbir and Inderjit are part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at both the Centre and in Haryana. Since the Assembly election in October 2024, however, the BJP’s two Ahir leaders have made indirect digs against each other, aired their d