The Indian National Lok Dal on Tuesday suffered yet another blow with its two sitting MLAs joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Nuh MLA Zakir Hussain and Julana MLA Parminder Singh Dhull, both of the INLD joined the saffron party in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Lal and Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala here.
Zakir Hussain and Parminder Singh Dhull were among the most vocal MLAs in the State Assembly. Ahead of the joining the BJP, both the MLAs had submitted their resignation to the Haryana Assembly Speaker, Kanwar Pal Gujjar.
After joining the ruling BJP, they said that they were impressed with the functioning of Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana and have taken this decision after holding discussion with the people of their respective constituencies.
Following this development, the INLD’s strengthen has come down to 7 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
Earlier three sitting MLAs of the INLD namely Balwan Singh Daulatpuria , Ranbir Gangwa and Kehar Singh Rawat had joined the BJP while another MLA Naseem Ahmed had joined the Congress.
Another four INLD MLAs had switched sides to the Jannayak Janta Party led by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, grandson of INLD chief OP Chautala.
BJP leaders on Tuesday claimed that another INLD MLA is also set to join the BJP soon.
Given the current scenario, the chances of INLD seem bleak in the State Assembly polls, which are due to be held in October. The grand old party- INLD –founded in 1996 by former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal has been out of power in Haryana for over 14 years now.
With continuous exodus of its current MLAs and senior leaders, the INLD, which was once the main opposition party in Haryana, is showing no signs of revival after its crushing defeat in Lok Sabha elections.
The INLD which had split last year, had suffered a humiliating defeat in Lok Sabha polls losing on all 10 seats with its vote share declining to dismal 1.89 percent (240258 votes) from 24.4 per cent in 2014 parliamentary polls.
The INLD chief OP Chautala is currently serving a 10-year jail sentence in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with the teachers recruitment scam. The party had recently appointed retired IAS officer BD Dhalia as the party’s Haryana state unit chief.
CM Manohar Lal says party confident of achieving “Mission 75”.
While welcoming the two INLD MLAs and leaders of Jannayak Janta Party into the party fold, Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday said that the leaders will further strengthen the party.
He said that the party had made its maiden State Government in Haryana in 2014 and then went on to win civic body polls, bypoll to Jind assembly segment, all 10 seats of the state in Lok Sabha.
He credited pro-people policies of the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana, saying people have backed these policies the results of which were also seen in elections at various levels held after 2014 in Haryana.
“We have set a target to win 75 seats in the forthcoming State Assembly elections and are confident of achieving our target,” he added.
Commenting on BJP apparently wiping out the opposition in Haryana Assembly ahead of upcoming monsoon session, the Chief Minister said that people are impressed with the functioning of the State Government and thus joining the party.
On its ally Shiromani Akali Dal’s demand to contest on atleast 30 seats in Haryana Assembly polls, the Chief Minister said that the two allies will sit together to discuss the issue.
The SAD had not contested the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana and had supported the saffron party on all 10 parliamentary seats in the state and would now be given appropriate number of seats in the Haryana Assembly elections, as per their pre-poll alliance.
Recently, SAD leaders, including its state unit president Sharanjit Singh Sotha had said the SAD has a strong sphere of influence in more than 30 assembly segments and should be accommodated honourably.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the ruling BJP currently has 48 MLAs while the SAD has only one MLA. The main opposition-Congress has 17 MLAs.