After JJP chief hints at return, sibling slams INLD door shut on ‘traitors’

INLD secretary general Abhay Chautala says party has no place for those who broke it, a day after Ajay Chautala said he was ready to merge JJP if father Om Prakash Chautala ‘invites’ them

mid a flurry of resignations of its officebearers, including Haryana unit president Nishan Singh, over the past few days, Jannayak Janta Party national president Ajay Chautala’s “willingness” to reunite with the parent party has met with strong opposition from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) secretary general Abhay Chautala, who called them a “blot on the face of late Chaudhary Devi Lal”.

In an over fiveminute video on his X account, Mr. Abhay Chautala on Tuesday said there was no place for those who had broken the party and brought a bad name to late Chaudhary Devi Lal. He added that the JJP, as junior ruling partner in the BJPled Haryana government until recently, had plundered the

AState and now exposed.

“The people have boycotted them and abused them. They want to return because they are politically and socially finished,” he said. They should first make it clear as to why did they leave, he added, saying that they were “traitors”.

Mr. Abhay Chautala’s statement came a day after his elder brother Mr. Ajay Chautala, speaking to mediapersons, said he was ready to go back to the INLD if his father Om Prakash Chautala “invited” stood them.

Mr. Ajay Chautala and his son, former Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, had formed the JJP on December 9, 2018, after a vertical split in the INLD earlier that year. They then extended support to the BJP in 2019 after the latter fell short of the majority mark. The alliance ended last month.

Mr. Dushyant Chautala, in a cryptic post on X, on Tuesday said one should know the art of losing when up against one’s own people. He has faced opposition during his visit to a few villages in Haryana’s

Hisar. The JJP’s core voters, the Jats, are angry with the party leadership for allying with the BJP and then maintaining silence over the farmers’ agitation, Agniveer scheme and the wrestlers’ protest.

JJP spokesperson Deepkamal Saharan told The Hindu that Mr. Ajay Chautala’s remark was made in response to a query by a journalist and the possibilities of reunion were “remote”.

They want to return to the INLD because they are politically and socially finished

ABHAY CHAUTALA

INLD secretary general

Mass exits

Mr. Singh, one of the JJP cofounders, resigned as party’s State president on Tuesday after three decades of association with the Chautalas. His resignation came in the wake of party’s general secretary Kamlesh Saini giving up the JJP’s primary membership earlier this month and MLA Jogi Ram Sihag relinquishing all party posts for “personal reasons”.