Om Prakash Chautala recently came on parole from Tihar jail. (File)The prime opposition party in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), is in dire straits as majority of its MLAs have deserted the party to join rival factions. Out of 19 MLAs in 2014 Vidhan Sabha, INLD’s 11 MLAs have deserted the party so far. Party’s supremo, Om Prakash Chautala, who recently came on parole from Tihar jail, has now dissolved the party’s structure and said the entire party shall be reorganised in wake of the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls scheduled in October, this year.
After getting decimated to barely 1.89 per cent vote share in 2019 Lok Sabha polls from 24.43 per cent in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, INLD needs a massive overhaul. Out of the 11 MLAs who deserted the party, three have joined BJP, four gone to JJP and two to Congress while drastically bringing down INLD’s strength.
“As Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala came out of jail, he decided that first he would go and meet his party workers. He toured almost all the districts across Haryana. He has decided that party needs to be completely reorganised. Yesterday, he concluded his visit to all the districts. New responsibilities shall be fixed, very soon”, Abhay Chautala said.
“After Lok Sabha results, changes are required in the organisation. Without a strong team, party can not move forward. It is essential to reorganise the party structure. New people shall be introduced. Vidhan Sabha results shall reveal extremely different results. Lok Sabha polls were held between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi and people chose Modi as country’s Prime Minister. (BJP) candidates were rebuked across Haryana, but the party (BJP) kept on seeking votes in Modi’s name. Thus, we can conclude that people kept abusing the candidates, but also voted in Modi’s name,” Abhay added.
Talking about forthcoming Vidhan Sabha polls in Haryana, Abhay said, “Vidhan Sabha polls are fought on issues specific to the region. Here, people will vote keeping in mind the working of the state government and people are already fed up of BJP government in Haryana”.
INLD MLA and Abhay Chautala’s close aide Balwan Singh Daulatpuria (MLA, Fatehabad) was the recent one to leave party and join BJP last week. Before Daulatpuria, Ranbir Singh Gangwa (Nalwa) and Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin) too had joined BJP.
INLD that suffered a split resulting in formation of Abhay’s elder brother, Ajay Chautala, and nephew, Dushyant Chautala , led Jannayak Janta Party in December last year, had also lost four of its MLAs to JJP. These include Abhay’s sister-in-law and Dushyant’s mother Naina Chautala (Dabwali), Rajdeep Phogat (Dadri), Prithi Singh (Narwana) and Anoop Dhanak (Uklana).
Invoking anti-defection law, Daulatpuria, in fact, was the one who lodged a complaint to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kanwar Pal seeking disqualification of these four MLAs. Speaker Kanwar Pal has already issued notices to these four MLAs seeking their comments.
INLD’s two MLAs Jasbir Singh Sandhu (Pehowa) and Hari Chand Midha (Jind) had passed away. Midha’s son Krishan Midha, however, joined BJP and contested on BJP ticket in Jind bypoll. He was elected.
INLD’s other MLA Naseem Ahmed (Ferozepur Jhirka), who first deserted the party and joined JJP, recently joined the Congress in presence of Congress’ general secretary-in-charge of Haryana, Ghulam Nabi Azad. INLD’s another former minister and former MLA, Mohammad Ilyas, too had joined Congress in Ghulam Nabi Azad’s presence.
