Having lost ground, INLD struggling for survival: Hooda
KARNAL: Taking a dig at the beleaguered Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which is staring at a split amid a raging feud in the Chautala clan that presides over it, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday said the principal opposition party has lost base in the state and is struggling for survival.
“I don’t want to comment on their family matters. But I had said two years ago that the INLD’s real face has got exposed and it would soon struggle for survival. I stand vindicated now,” Hooda said while interacting with mediapersons here.
Reacting to INLD leader Abhay Chautala’s plan to resume protests over non-completion of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Hooda said they are concerned about their survival, not the SYL canal.
“In fact, INLD is the party, which is responsible for the SYL row (non-completion of the canal in Punjab),” he said in an oblique reference to Chautala’s close relations with the Badal family of Punjab that has been opposing the construction of the SYL canal.
Regarding chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s statement that several leaders in the Congress are projecting themselves as chief ministerial candidate of the party, Hooda said, “Everybody has a right to make claims in democracy.”
On Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s upcoming visit to a Karnal village to “inspect” a government dispensary, Hooda, said, “Kejriwal had got active in Punjab ahead of the assembly elections there, but his party could not do much there. Now, he won’t get anything in Haryana too,” The ex-CM, who is a law graduate, said he was in Karnal to meet his lawyer friends on their invitation.
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I had said two years ago that the INLD’s real face has got exposed and it would soon struggle for survival. I stand vindicated now. BHUPINDER SINGH HOODA, former Haryana CM