Devi Lal clan came to power with new party every time
Every time any member of the former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal’s clan came to power in Haryana, it was on a new party symbol.
The great grandson of Devi Lal, Dushyant Chautala, the deputy chief minister in the BJPJannayak Janta Party (JJP) coalition government, is the latest example. Dushyant is the third member of the clan, whose party has come to power after a gap of 14 years. The party symbol of JJP is ‘key’.
Led by Dushyant the JJP, formed last year after a crippling split in the parent party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), won 10 seats of the 90 in the state and has become a junior partner in the BJP-JJP coalition government headed by Manohar Lal Khattar.
In the 1977 assembly elections, Janata Party (with election symbol of a farmer carrying plough) had won 75 seats. Devi Lal became the chief minister of the state on June 21, 1977 and served the office till June 28, 1979.
In 1982 assembly elections, the Congress had formed the government and Bhajan Lal became the chief minister for the first four years and then Bansi Lal for the remaining tenure.
In the next assembly elections in 1987, Devi Lal again bounced back to the power with a new party — Lok Dal (B) which won 60 seats while its ally BJP registered victory on 16 seats. His party’s election symbol was a farmer ploughing the fields with two bulls. On December 2, 1989, Devi Lal resigned from the post of Haryana chief minister after he was elevated as deputy prime minister and his son OP Chautala, Dushyant’s grandfather, replaced him as Haryana chief minister.
In the assembly elections in 2000, OP Chautala again came to power with his new party —the IINLD which had ‘spectacles’ as its symbol. The INLD had fought on 62 seats and won 47 seats while its ally BJP managed to get victory on 6 seats. But the BJP had supported INLD which backed the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.