Former MP Ajay Singh Chautala was appointed the national president of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) on Monday.
The decision was taken at a national executive meeting of the party held in Panchkula. Chautala is serving a jail term in connection with a teachers' recruitment scam in Haryana in 2000 and is currently on parole.
"Dr Ajay Singh Chautala, ex-MP, is declared to be national president of Jannayak Janta Party in a national executive meeting at Panchkula," the JJP tweeted. A party leader said the JJP''s national executive unanimously decided to entrust the responsibility to him.
JJP sources said when the party was registered with the Election Commission last year, it's youth leader and Ajay Chautala's younger son, Digvijay Chautala, was named as the party president. However, Digvijay Chautala did not serve in that role, they said, adding it is only now that the party has formally announced a president.
Ajay Chautala (59), grandson of former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal, is a co-founder of the JJP. The party was formed in December 2018. His son and Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Dushyant Chautala and the party's state unit chief Nishan Singh were also present at the meeting.
The JJP, which won 10 seats in the Haryana Assembly polls, extended support to the BJP after the saffron party could manage to win only 40 of the 90 seats in 2019 state assembly polls. They formed a coalition government in the state. Ajay Chautala, son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, became a Lok Sabha MP from Bhiwani in 1999 and a Rajya Sabha MP in 2004. He was elected as an MLA from the Dabwali constituency in Sirsa district in 2009.