Jolt to INLD as its Nalwa MLA Gangwa joins saffron party
If he puts in his papers, INLD’S number in assembly will come down to 16 and Cong, which has 17 MLAS in House, can stake claim as main oppn party
CHANDIGARH: In yet another jolt to Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the opposition party in Haryana assembly, its MLA from Nalwa, Ranbir Gangwa, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Gangwa was welcomed into the saffron party’s fold in New Delhi by BJP’S national general secretary Anil Jain in the presence of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and party president Subhash Barala on Thursday evening.
With Gangwa’s exit, INLD’S position as the principal opposition party has come under threat. The number of its MLAS had come down from 19 to 17 after the death of two legislators—jind MLA Harichand Middha and Pehowa MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu. If Gangwa puts in his papers, INLD’S number would come down to 16 and the Congress, which has 17 legislators in the assembly, could stake claim to be the main opposition party.
Moreover, INLD is already under acute stress as its four other MLAS, Anup Dhanak (Uklana), Rajdeep Phogat (Dadri), Pirthi Singh (Narwana) and Dabwali MLA Naina Chautala, are already siding with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
The JJP was floated in December last year after INLD supremo
INLD IS ALREADY UNDER STRESS AS FOUR OF ITS LEGISLATORS ARE ALREADY SIDING WITH THE JANNAYAK JANATA PARTY (JJP)
Om Prakash Chautala expelled his elder son and former MP Ajay Chautala and his (Ajay’s) sons Dushayant, who is the MP from Hisar, and Digvijay, a students’ leader, about five months ago.
Ajay, along with his father, is currently serving a ten-year sentence in Delhi’s Tihar jail in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam.
The BJP which came to power with 46 MLAS (of the total 90) in 2014 riding on the Modi-wave,
got another member when INLD’S MLA late Harichand Middha’s son, Krishan Middha joined the BJP and won the Jind bypoll about two monthsago.
Of the total 10 Lok Sabha seats, the saffron party has seven MPS, though its Karnal MP Ashwini Chopra who refused to fight this time citing health issues and its Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini has turned rebel and
floated his own Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP).
The remaining three seats are represented by Congress’ Deepender Singh Hooda in Rohtak, INLD’S Dushyant Chautala in Hisar and INLD’S Charanjit Singh Rori in Sirsa.
Gangwa, who served as INLD’S Rajya Sabha member in 2010 could be BJP’S choice for Hisar.
DUTT, WHO WON THE BRONZE MEDAL IN 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES, IS LIKELY TO BE FIELDED FROM SONEPAT OR ROHTAK, SOURCES SAID