Ajay Chautala’s party to fight 2019 assembly, LS polls

NEWDELHI:Former

Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s elder son Ajay Chautala on Tuesday said his new party will contest next year’s assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls from all 10 seats in the state.

Ajay’s new party is being launched next month following a split on Saturday in the Indian National Lok Dal, a result of the power struggle between him and his brother Abhay Chautala.

He said the name of the new party will include ‘Jan Nayak’, an apparent reference to the Chautala brothers’ grandfather and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. “It’s time to follow the path shown by Chaudhary Devi Lal,” said Ajay, who was recently expelled from the INLD.

Ajay, who is undergoing a 10-year jail term with father Om Prakash Chautala since 2013 in a teachers’ recruitment scam, said the new party will hold a rally in Jind on December 9. “We will contest on all Lok Sabha seats (from Haryana) as well as the next state assembly polls,” he told reporters at his Delhi home, hours before his two-week parole ended.

He said the new outfit was also likely to contest the bypoll for the Jind assembly seat, which fell vacant in August when INLD MLA Hari Chand Middha died.

Meanwhile, former minister and senior INLD leader from Mewat, Mohammed Illyas, resigned from the INLD on Tuesday to express solidarity with the ousted leader. In Rohtak, some supporters of Ajay also brought down the INLD flag from the party office and removed the name plate of district unit chief Satish Nandal. Ajay had said, “I hand over the INLD and the spectacles (party symbol) to my younger brother as a gift.”

THE NEW OUTFIT WAS LIKELY TO CONTEST THE BYPOLL FOR THE JIND ASSEMBLY SEAT, WHICH FELL VACANT IN AUGUST WHEN INLD MLA HARI CHAND MIDDHA DIED