Expelled INLD leader and Hisar MP, Dushyant Chautala on Sunday launched a new political outfit 'Jannayak Janata Party', which will contest both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls scheduled next year in Haryana.
Dushyant is the grandson of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) national president Om Prakash Chautala and was expected to launch the new party following a power struggle in the main opposition party last month.
The INLD had split following differences between Ajay Singh Chautala and his younger brother Abhay Chautala.
The announcement of the new political outfit was made at a rally held in Jind. The flag of the new outfit, whose predominant green colour bears resemblance with INLD flag and also has a smaller patch in yellow colour, carries picture of Om Prakash Chautala's father and former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal in the centre. The flag of the new outfit was unveiled by Ajay's wife and MLA from Dabwali, Naina Chautala.
No announcement was, however, made on who would head the new party. Ajay's younger son Digvijay Chautala was also present at the rally.
The name of the new party begins with Rs Jannayak', a reference to Devi Lal, with various speakers at the rally pledging to walk the path shown by the late leader.
Dushyant Chautala, while addressing the Jind rally said that time has come to make a new beginning and bring in a change, while promising that the new outfit will follow the path shown by Devi Lal and lay foundation for ouster of BJP, Congress and the INLD in upcoming polls.
The new outfit will contest all 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state and also fight the Vidhan Sabha polls, he said.
Dushyant said his fight is on principles and that the new party would fight for the rights of people of Haryana.
Hisar MP also touched upon the circumstances and developments which took place in recent weeks within INLD that ended in a split and the decision to float the new outfit. "Flow of rivers cannot be stopped...," he said, taking a veiled dig at his uncle Abhay Chautala, who while addressing a meeting of party's state executive in Chandigarh on Sunday, claimed that the new outfit will disintegrate shortly.
Abhay Chautala, who is Leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly also dared Dushyant to resign as Lok Sabha member of the INLD if he was so sure of his popularity. Dushyant had won the Hisar parliamentary seat on the INLD symbol. INLD chief OP Chautala had expelled three family members from the party—first his grandsons Hisar MP Dushyant and Digvijay, and then elder son Ajay—for alleged “anti-party activities”.
Dushyant also tried to justify why the banners and posters at the rally did not bear the photo of OP Chautala.
“Many people say we removed Chautala sahab's photos from posters. He is head of our family, but he is also head of our rival (INLD) party. There is a legal hurdle that we cannot have photo of head of our rival party in our (party) posters,” he said.
"The day when Chautala sahab will resign as national president of INLD, the same day we will have his photo in our posters. At the same time, I want to say that no-one can take him out from our hearts,” Dushyant added.
Wearing a 'green' pugri with yellow on its top, he also sought to assert that his father will be the real inheritor of Devi Lal's legacy after O P Chautala.
Dushyant also hit out at the ruling BJP, saying it had failed on all fronts including in giving jobs and on law and order front.
The new party, which has made the split in the INLD and the Chautala family officially, has been formed at a time when general elections are three-four months away and assembly elections in Haryana are likely to be held in October next year.
Amid a show of strength by the two warring Chautala brothers, elder brother Ajay Singh Chautala had on November 17 announced the floating of a new political party. Ajay's younger brother Abhay Chautala, who controls the INLD as its general secretary, on Sunday said that the split would not affect the INLD's political fortunes.
Abhay held a meeting of party’s state executive including MPs, MLAs and state executive members in Chandigarh, ostensibly to keep his flock together and ensure that his party members do not go to Jind.
Notably, OP Chautala and his elder son, Ajay, were convicted in the JBT (junior basic teacher) recruitment scam in January 2013. Both were sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Delhi.
The father and son have been barred from contesting elections due to the conviction.
The INLD has been managed by Chautala's younger son Abhay Chautala, an MLA from Ellenabad since then.
