Haryana’s main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal, which is split in two factions headed by two brothers—Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala—is likely to witness a bitter battle for party’s symbol ‘spectacles’ (Chashma).
Out of Tihar jail on parole for 14 days, Ajay Chautala, father of Hisar MP Dushyant and Digvijay Chautala has given indications that he will be laying claims on party symbol and to secure his sons right in the party.
INLD’s patriarch Om Prakash Chautala, Ajay’s father had on November 2 expelled his grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay for indiscipline and spreading disaffection within the party.
Ajay Chautala, who came out of jail on parole on November 5 had announced to fight back and made it clear that he and his sons are in no mood to accept Abhay Chautala, Ajay’s younger brother, as the political successor to OP Chautala.
Abhay Chautala is Leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly and party’s MLA from Ellenabad.
Ajay, who is INLD’s state secretary general has already began his statewide tour to muster support for his sons. “Before end of his parole, Ajay will be making efforts to gain support of maximum legislators and senior party leaders to substantiate claim on party symbol,” said sources.
On the other hand, Abhay Chautala on Friday convened an emergency meeting of MLAs and party’s national and state executive body at Sirsa.
The emergency meeting was convened as a show of strength by Abhay Chautala amid the turmoil in the INLD. At present, Abhay enjoys the support of legislative and organisational wing of the party.
13 party MLAs out of 18 and 1 Lok Sabha MP out of 2 attended the meeting at Sirsa.
When asked about reason of convening an emergency meeting, Abhay Chautala, while talking to the mediapersons said that the meeting has been convened to chalk out party’s strategy to begin campaign on the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.
Even on such a short notice, 90 percent attendance of party leaders was registered at the meeting, he said.
On his differences with elder brother Ajay Chautala, he claimed that there are no differences in the family.
“I was scheduled to meet him (Ajay) in the morning in New Delhi but he got busy due to some work,” he added.
Asked to comment on turmoil in the party, Abhay blamed Congress for trying to weaken the INLD and claimed that INLD will always remain a strong party.
Four MLAs who stayed away from Abhay’s meeting had already announced their support to Ajay’s camp.
These included Ajay’s wife Naina Chautala, who is MLA from Dabwali constituency and MLAs Anoop Dhanak, Rajdeep Phogat and Pirthi Singh. Several INLD district presidents, the state women’s cell chief and former legislators have also joined Ajay Chautala’s camp.
While there were 19 party MLAs, one MLA had died in August. Another party MLA, Nagendra Bhadana has been staying away from the party events from a long time and has made clear his inclination towards BJP on several occasions.
Reacting to the emergency meeting convened by his younger brother on Friday, Ajay Chautala said that party’s executive committee meeting will be held on November 17 at Jind and the party workers will decide the future course of action.
While a new state party executive committee had been announced recently, it remains to be seen who attends the meeting convened by Ajay.
Meanwhile, Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala is scheduled to address mediapersons at Chandigarh on Saturday. He is likely to issue a clarification on allegations leveled against him by the party.
After Dushyant and Digvijay’s expulsion from the party and resignations of their supporters, Abhay Chautala has repeatedly alleged that those who left the party were the paid agents of the Congress and were trying to weaken the INLD.
Dushyant and Digvijay were accused of "indiscipline, hooliganism and spreading disaffection" against the party leadership during the birth celebrations of former deputy Prime Minister and INLD founder Chaudhary Devi Lal in Gohana on October 7.
Notably, Abhay had been managing the party affairs since the conviction of OP Chautala and Ajay Chautala in a teachers recruitment scam.
Both OP Chautala and Ajay Chautala are barred from contesting elections after they were convicted in a teachers recruitment scam in 2013 and are serving ten-year sentences in Tihar Jail.
Out of parole, Ajay will now be holding statewide tour to meet the party workers and would conclude his tour at Jind, where he will announce his next course of action.
The tour is aimed at gaining the support of party workers and senior leaders ahead of November 17 rally at Jind.
The INLD was founded in October 1996 by Choudhary Devi Lal, father of OP Chautala.
Both Dushyant and Digvijay are great-grandsons of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. Thirty-year-old Dushyant is the youngest MP in the Lok Sabha, and a popular youth leader in the state.
This is not the first time that the INLD is “witnessing a war of succession”. Among Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhuri Devi Lal’s four sons, former Chief Minister OP Chautala and Ranjit Singh fought a bitter battle of succession. The father had at that time handpicked Chautala and crowned him the president of the INLD.
As the history repeated itself, OP Chautala has now sided with his younger son, Abhay, who will be leading the party in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and is likely to be INLD’s Chief Ministerial face in assembly polls.
After being out of power since 2005, the INLD had in April this year announced to join hands with the BSP for 2019 crucial polls. The INLD had announced to contest Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls in Haryana in alliance with the BSP.
Having lost three consecutive assembly elections in the state, the party has been trying for a comeback in the state. The INLD was reduced from its tally of 31 seats in the 2009 assembly polls to just 19 seats in 2014 polls.