The Indian National Lok Dal, Haryana’s main opposition party and fledgling outfit, Jannayak Janta Party will be fighting for their stature in the state politics in Jind bypoll, scheduled to be held on January 28.
While the bypoll is a prestige issue for the national parties –ruling BJP and Congress –ahead of general election 2019, the stakes are also high for the regional parties—INLD and the JJP –as the results would be an indicative of their prominence in the politics of Haryana state, where assembly polls are also due to be held later this year.
Leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly and INLD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala may have edged out his elder brother Ajay Singh Chautala and his sons, thereby assuming full control of the INLD but this triumph of his will have a little meaning if JJP’s candidate and his nephew Digvijay Chautala manages to secure a victory or even gets more votes than the INLD in the bypolls.
The closely watched high-stake bypoll battle have Congress’ heavyweight MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jannayak Janta Party’s Digvijay Chautala, great grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, BJP’s Krishan Middha, son of late INLD MLA Hari Chand Middha and INLD’s low profile candidate Umed Singh Redhu.
Making his electoral debut, Digvijay is contesting as an independent backed by the JJP, which is yet to receive certificate of registration from the Election Commission. JJP was formed in December last by OP Chautala’s elder son Ajay Chautala and his two sons, Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala.
The bye-election to Jind, considered as the political heartland of the state, was necessitated following the demise of Hari Chand Middha in August last year. INLD’s Hari Chand Middha had represented the Jind assembly seat for two consecutive terms in 2009 and 2014.
The bypoll has already generated national interest and the ruling BJP’s candidate Krishan Middha, Congress’ nominee, sitting MLA from Kaithal, Randeep Surjewala, a popular Jat face and the JJP’s Digvijay Chautala, who comes from Haryana’s influential Chautala family, are seen as strong contenders in the electoral battle.
The INLD, on the other hand, is struggling to retain its Jind assembly seat, won by late MLA Hari Chand Middha, by defeating BJP’s candidate with a small margin of 2,257 votes in 2014 assembly polls.
battle has gotten worse for the INLD, with the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party on Monday announcing its support to JJP’s Digvijay Chautala.
According to the political observers, as caste factor is a key to victory in Jind, the BJP is eyeing consolidation of the non-Jat votes in the assembly constituency, while the Jat votes are likely to split between the Congress, the INLD and the JJP, all these political parties having fielded Jat candidates.
The INLD is known to have a strong voter base in the Jat community which constitutes around 28 percent of Haryana’s population. However, the JJP, its splinter group is likely to eat into INLD’s Jat vote bank now.
The INLD, founded in October 1996 by Choudhary Devi Lal, father of current party chief OP Chautala had split last November following a power struggle between brothers Abhay Chautala and Ajay Chautala.
With the split, the political fortunes of the INLD are set to take a hit during the current Jind bypoll and also, upcoming general elections, feel political analysts.
In the past elections, INLD’s Hari Chand Middha is believed to have managed two consecutive victories due to voting by Jats, core supporters of the INLD and the Punjabi community in the constituency. However this time, with Hari Chand Middha’s son Krishan Middha becoming BJP’s nominee and many Jind leaders deserting the INLD to join the JJP, INLD was left with little choice against the JJP’s Digvijay Chautala and fielded a low profile candidate, Umed Singh Redhu.
The Jind assembly segment has more than 1.7 lakh voters including over 1.07 lakh urban voters and nearly 62,500 living in villages.
Jind, predominantly an urban constituency, will witness caste combinations playing a key role in bye-election. The assembly segment has a concentration of Bania voters, followed by Jats and Brahmins. The constituency also has a number of voters belonging to Scheduled Castes and Backward and Other Backward Castes communities.
Political analysts believe that in current scenario, the INLD, which has an alliance with the BSP, is hoping for consolidation of Jat and dalit vote bank in Jind. While a victory in Jind seems an uphill task for the INLD, the party will certainly be content with staying ahead of another regional opponent, JJP in the bypoll.
Ajay Chautala’s party JJP will test political waters for the first time. And, a positive outcome or more vote percentage for the JJP as compared to the INLD in Jind, would be a major morale booster for it ahead of general elections 2019 and assembly polls later this year in Haryana, say political experts.
Having lost three consecutive assembly elections in the state, the INLD has been trying for a comeback in the state after being out of power since 2005. The INLD was reduced from its tally of 31 seats out of total 90 in the 2009 assembly polls to just 19 seats in 2014 in the 90-member Haryana Assembly while it won two Lok Sabha seats out of 10 in last general elections.
INLD’s tally has already fallen to 17 in the Haryana Assembly following the demise of its Pehowa MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu on Saturday. In the absence of party’s patriarch OP Chautala who is serving a 10-year jail term since 2013 in a teachers’ recruitment scam, the INLD led by his younger son Abhay Chautala is finding it difficult to keep its flock together.
INLD’s MLA Naina, wife of Ajay Chautala and mother of MP Dushyant Chautala and other two party MLAs have already lent their support to the JJP. Both Naina and Dushyant are also intensively campaigning for Digvijay.
However, INLD’s senior leader Abhay Chautala has claimed that the candidature of Digvijay in the elections will not impact the INLD’s political fortunes.
Abhay, while campaigning for the INLD’s candidate on Monday said that Digvijay is an “outsider”. People will not vote for Digvijay who has insulted INLD’s chief OP Chautala. It is better to vote for INLD-BSP candidate rather than voting for those who are lairs and selfish, he added while attacking his nephew.
Dushyant Chautala, on the other hand, has claimed that JJP’s main competition is national parties like BJP and Congress in the Jind polls. The INLD has no chances in the bypoll, he added.
AAP announces support to JJP’s Digvijay Chautala
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced to support the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) candidate Digvijay Chautala in Jind bypoll.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta on Monday said that Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala had sought AAP’s support and we have decided to campaign for Digvijay in the bypoll.
Gupta said the AAP has decided to support the JJP due to the “similarities in their ideologies” and to fight the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal who have divided the people of Haryana on the basis of religion and caste,
JJP and AAP alliance for Jind bypoll has triggered speculation that both the parties could also join hands to contest Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls in Haryana.
Both the parties have announced to contest on 10 Lok Sabha seats and 90 seats in Haryana Assembly.
In the past, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has showered praise on Dushyant Chautala for his ideology.