The Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday said it will support Indian National Lok Dal candidates in the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. The decision was taken at a meeting of the SAD's Haryana unit which was presided over by the party's state affairs in-charge Balwinder Singh Bhunder.
The meeting held at the SAD's head office here was attended by the party's Haryana president Sharanjit Singh Sotha and INLD general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala. Chautala thanked the SAD for its decision to extend wholehearted support to the INLD in the Lok Sabha polls.
Polling for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held in the sixth round of the seven-phase general elections on May 25. In a statement, Chautala said the INLD and the SAD are traditional alliance partners and their unity in the forthcoming elections will help his party emerge victorious.
The former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala-led INLD is contesting all the 10 seats in the state. The party has announced candidates on six seats so far. According to the statement, Chautala highlighted "how an effort was on to marginalize and even finish off regional parties".
"Only regional parties can fulfill the aspirations of the people of the region and I am confident that with the INLD and the SAD joining hands, the aspirations of the people of Haryana will be fulfilled," he said.
SAD's Bhunder said, "The party has taken feedback from its cadre in Haryana and there is an overwhelming view that the SAD should support the INLD which alone stands in support of farmers, farm labourers as well as the poor and downtrodden." He said the SAD will soon depute its Haryana team in the field to support the INLD.
BJP's ‘Ab ki baar 400 paar’ mere slogan they won't cross 200 seats: Abhay Chautala
INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala on Monday said BJP's "Ab ki baar 400 paar" is a mere slogan and claimed they won't cross 200 Lok Sabha seats. He also trained guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as its former ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), alleging that for four-and-a-half years they "looted" the state.
"400 paar is a mere slogan, they will not cross 200 seats this time. If you remember, in the 2019 Haryana Assembly polls too, the BJP had given the "Ab ki baar 75 paar" slogan (claimed to win 75 of the 90 seats), but ended up winning just 40," Chautala told reporters here. On the occasion, the party's state unit chief Rampal Majra announced the names of three more party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
Party leader Sunil Tewatia will be the candidate from Faridabad, Anoop Singh Dahiya from Sonipat and Sandeep Lott will contest from Sirsa.
On April 18, the INLD had announced Abhay Chautala's candidature from Kurukshetra. The party has so far announced the names of six candidates for the 10 seats, which includes its women wing leader Sunaina Chautala from Hisar while from Ambala reserved constituency, the party has fielded its youth leader Gurpreet Singh, a Sikh face.
