OP Chautala ‘keen’ on alliance with BJP, saffron party says no
We need to stop the Congress from coming to power. Whenever Congress has come to power, farmers have been pushed to misery.
ABHAY CHAUTALA, INLD leader There has been no discussion in the context. The Bharatiya Janata Party will field its candidates in all 10 seats and win with a huge margin.
ANIL JAIN, BJP national gen secy
ROHTAK : Former Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Om Prakash Chautala has reportedly reiterated for an alliance with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Haryana. At a meeting of the working committee of INLD held in Jhajjar on Saturday, Chautala’s grandson Karan conveyed the incarcerated ex-cm’s message in which he asked party workers if the INLD and the BJP should reunite once again.
The two parties had previously forged an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in 1999, which was later broken by INLD after it won a majority in assembly elections in 2000. Now, as the Chautala-led party faces its weakest phase after a split, its leadership has once again started talking of an alliance with the BJP.
During his recent furlough from Tihar jail where he is serving a 10-year sentence in a corruption scam, Chautala had hinted at an alliance with the saffron party multiple times.
During Saturday’s meeting, Karan Chautala read a letter to the party workers which he said was given to him by OP Chautala. In the letter, as read by Karan, Chautala asked party workers to not give up and unite for the party. It promised them that their 15-year wait was over and the coming government in Haryana will be theirs.
After reading out the letter, Karan said there was another message from Chautala which he asked him to convey to the workers. “Chautala saab ka sawal hai kya aap log chahte hain ki hara aur bhagwa fir dobara ek ho jayen? (Do you want green (for INLD) and saffron (for BJP) to reunite once again)” Karan asked. The workers responded positively raising slogans of Chautala and Devi Lal.
“Chautala saab also said that he will make sure that INLD and BJP will reunite. There was no worry there. But he asked you all to reach out to those INLD workers who quit the party to come back again and strengthen us,” Karan added.
Speaking next, Karan’s father and senior INLD leader Abhay Chautala said INLD’S strength will force BJP to form alliance with the party. Only a respectful alliance will happen. “We need to stop the Congress from coming to power. Whenever Congress has come to power, farmers have been pushed to misery,” he said.
Ruling out any possibility of alliance, the BJP national general secretary and Haryana in-charge Anil Jain, however, told newspersons in Delhi that there had neither been any discussion in the context nor was there a question of alliance. The BJP would field its candidates in all the 10 seats and win with huge margin. The BJP was strong in Haryana and would again win, he added. Seconding Jain’s statement in the context, the party state general secretary Ved Pal also held there was no question of an alliance with INLD.
INLD APPOINTS YOUTH WING LEADERS
In order to strengthen the youth wing of the INLD, the working committee of the INLD appointed Karan Chautala as the national convener and Narendra Gagadwas as the co-convener of the youth wing. Abhay Chautala also slammed the Jannayak Janta Party formed by his nephews Dushyant and Digvijay saying it was party full of liars. “They are selling their new symbol ‘chappal’ by saying Devi Lal wore it through out his life. This is totally false. Devi Lal wore only white shoes and has no links to their party symbol,” Abhay said.
NOTICE TO JJP
Additional returning officer Gharaunda Sham Lal has issued show-cause notice to Jannayak Janta Party for an alleged violation of the model code of conduct.
An official spokesperson said the party violated the code of conduct by holding a public rally and using loudspeakers in Gharuanda grain market on Saturday, without any permission. The party was told to submit its reply by 4pm on March 17.