Chautala grandsons’ expulsion triggers resignations in INLD
FACES POSSIBLE SPLIT Several party leaders in districts announced their resignations on Saturday from party
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) stared at a possible split a day after its president Om Prakash Chautala expelled grandsons Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala from the party, triggering resignations by activists in their support.
Several party leaders in Haryana districts announced their resignations on Saturday from INLD over the expulsion of the two leaders, both children of Om Prakash Chautala’s elder son Ajay Chautala.
Some of them made the announcement on social media, expressing solidarity with the grandsons who were charged with “indiscipline’ and then sacked on Friday.
“There’s no INLD for me without Dushyant and Digvijay Chautala. I announced my resignation from the post of INLD spokesperson as soon as I heard the news of OP Chautala expelling the two leaders. Many more are going to follow,” said Pradeep Deswal, who was Rohtak president of Indian National Students Organisation, the studentwing of the party, and spokesperson of INLD.
He added, “Dushyant and Digvijay gave everything to the party and don’t deserve this. I am not resigning from INSO because it was founded by Ajay Chautala and no other person can dissolve it except him.”
Dushyant and Digvijay are seen as opponents of their uncle and Chautala’s younger son, MLA Abhay Singh Chautala.
There is speculation that Ajay Chautala and his two sons may float another party or join the Bharatiya Janata Party which is in power in Haryana, after the jolt months ahead of assembly polls in the state.
DUSHYANT MEETS HIS SUPPORTERS IN SIRSA
Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala met his supporters in Sirsa. He said the next course will be decided when his father Ajay Chautala comes out of prison.
He and Om Prakash Chautala are undergoing a 10-year jail term since 2013 in a teacher recruitment scandal. His 14-day parole begins on November 5, party leaders said.
REBELS HAVE NO FUTURE IN PARTY: ABHAY
INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala hit out at those resigning from the party, saying they had no future in the organisation.
“Those who are deserting the INLD now are paid agents of the Congress. Some Congressmen wanted to weaken the INLD,” he said. But he refused to comment directly on the expulsion of MP Dushyant and Digvijay.
Regarding claims that Dushyant is in touch with BJP leaders, he said, “Ruling party leaders are not happy with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. That’s why they are looking for MPs of other parties.”
Addressing a gathering earlier in Kaithal, Abhay asked his party workers not to raise slogans in his favour and said, “Ye mere naam ke naare mat lagao. In naaron ki wajah se koi ghalatfehmi ka shikar hokar naya panga na khada kar de”
Accompanied by BSP’s state president Prakash Bharti, Abhay was in Kaithal to address a district-level meeting of INLDBSP workers. He claimed that the INLD-BSP alliance will form the next government in Haryana and BSP supremo Mayawati would become the next prime minister of the country.
He said those who are with the INLD wanted to see his father Om Prakash Chautala as the next chief minister of Haryana.
The simmering family feud came to a head Friday when an INLD press statement announced the expulsions, quoting the party’s jailed national president.
The two had earlier been placed under suspension after a ruckus at a party rally in Gohana on October 7 to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.
Their supporters had allegedly disrupted speeches of Abhay Chautala and Om Prakash Chautala, who was then out on parole.
Om Prakash Chautala dissolved the party’s student and youth wings, headed by the now sacked grandsons as a party disciplinary committee began looking into the charges of indiscipline. With his elder brother and father in prison, Abhay Chautala
has been running the Haryana-based party for the last few years.
SOME OF THEM MADE ANNOUNCEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA, EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY WITH DUSHYANT CHAUTALA AND DIGVIJAY
INLD APPOINTS YOUTH WING LEADERS
Meanwhile, the INLD has appointed Jassi Petwar of Hisar district as president of youth wing of the INLD.
Ravinder Sangwan was the president of the youth wing of the INLD when the party supremo OP Chautala dissolved it along with INSO, which was headed by Digvijay Chautala, after party’s Gohana rally on October 7. The party has also formed a sports cell and appointed Sube Singh as its president. Talking to HT, INLD state president Ashok Arora said the appointments were made to strengthen the party base among the youths.