Chandigarh: Out of jail for several months now, former Haryana MP and head of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), Ajay Chautala, seems to be making the most of his “Covid leave” from Tihar jail.
The 59-year-old leader recently visited Goa where he was seen with Independent MLA Gopal Kanda, the controversial former minister in Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s cabinet (2009-2012).
Ajay Chautala’s son Dushyant is the deputy Chief Minister of Haryana. Their party JJP is an alliance partner of Manohar Lal Khattar’s BJP government in the state.
Ajay and his father Om Prakash Chautala — a four-time chief minister of the state — are serving a 10-year jail term in Tihar following their conviction in government job recruitment scam in 2013.
According to sources in Tihar, Ajay and Om Prakash Chautala were released on emergency parole in March last year, along with 1,100 others due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Sources said that prisoners out on this parole do not need any special permission to move around the country or travel to any state, and no special approval is sought from local police.
This emergency parole was last extended for six weeks for all those convicts who are already out. They are required to surrender on or before 9 January 2021.
Ajay Chautala’s Goa visit
Sources close to the Chautala family told The Print that the entire family led by Ajay Chautala, his wife Naina Chautala, who is also an MLA, and Dushyant, along with his wife and younger brother Digvijay had left for a trip to Gujarat on 27 December. There they visited several religious places. While the rest of the family returned on 1 January, Ajay Chautala went to Goa for a day, before returning to New Delhi.
A picture of Ajay Chautala with Gopal Kanda in Goa surfaced on social media Saturday.
Ajay and Dushyant are already in the firing line from the opposition for supporting the BJP over the three new farm laws. There has been a growing demand for Dushyant’s resignation from the Haryana government.
While Dushyant has been saying that he will resign if the farmers do not get MSP on their procured crops, Ajay has said that the central government should add a “sentence or two” in its farm acts guaranteeing MSP and procurement to the farmers.
The JJP, which was formed by Ajay and Dushyant in 2018, after breaking away from Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is primarily a Jaat-centric peasant party.
Kanda, a former cabinet minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in the state from 2009-2012, had to resign after an airhostess, who worked with his MDLR Airlines, accused him of harassing her and later committed suicide.
In 2014, Kanda formed Haryana Lokhit Party, but unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls. In 2019, he contested assembly election from Sirsa and won.
Apart from other businesses, Kanda has an offshore casino in Goa. Last year, a five-day ‘Indian Poker Championship’ was organised at the casino that was attended by international poker stars.
Friends-turned-foes
Kanda, who started his career as a small time businessman in Sirsa, was once extremely close to the Chautalas. For several years, he looked after the real estate interests of the Chautalas.
However, the Chautalas and Kanda parted ways ahead of the 2009 assembly polls when the INLD refused to launch Kanda’s political career. He contested elections as an Independent and won the Sirsa seat. Kanda supported the Hooda government that came to power.
Ajay Chautala’s meeting with Kanda marks the possibility of the friends-turned-enemies getting back together again.
Kanda could not be contacted despite repeated attempts on his phone number.
(With inputs from Ananya Bhardwaj)
Also read: ‘Farmers’ party’ JJP under pressure to pull out of BJP-led govt, Dushyant Chautala faces heat