Digvijay Chautala and Dushyant Chautala

Amid deepening rift between the Chautala family, INLD chief and former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala has suspended party MP Dushyant Chautala and his younger brother, Digvijay Singh Chautala, from the primary membership of the party. Both brothers were suspended and issued a showcause notice on October 11, but the party made the decision public on Thursday after a meeting of its executive committee in Gurgaon. While Dushyant Chautala had replied seeking more time to prove his innocence, Digvijay maintains that he has not received a copy of the notice yet. The October 11 letter had also warned of initiation of disciplinary proceedings in case of an unsatisfactory reply.

On Thursday, during the meeting, the matter of accusations of indiscipline against Dushyant and Digvijay, president of now dissolved Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), was referred to the party’s disciplinary committee. The committee has been asked to submit its report by October 25 and till then both brothers will remain suspended from INLD’s primary membership. The brothers were charged with creating a ruckus during the 105th birthday celebrations of Chaudhary Devi Lal in Gohana (Sonipat) on October 7 and “encouraging forces to disrupt the biggest ever rally held in Haryana”.

The meeting was chaired by Om Prakash Chautala, the national president of INLD, during which he emphasised on the importance of discipline in the party, and repeatedly warned that anyone found violating discipline will be strictly dealt with irrespective of their position and status.
“The INLD has earned the reputation of being a disciplined party and therefore, the unruly scenes witnessed during that rally have been found very disturbing to the party leaders and workers,” Om Prakash Chautala had said.

Dushyant did not comment on the matter Thursday, while Digvijay reiterated that he had not received any notice.