Hisar MP, reportedly suspended from the INLD Thursday, tells workers not to lose hope until jailed patriarch O.P. Chautala conveys an official decision.
New Delhi: The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Haryana’s most prominent regional party, is caught in the midst of a family feud, which only seems to be intensifying.
Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, who was reportedly suspended from the party Thursday after his grandfather and party patriarch Om Prakash Chautala disbanded its student and youth wings, has invoked founder Devi Lal to continue his struggle, reportedly against uncle and the party’s acting president Abhay Chautala.
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Devi Lal, former Deputy Prime Minister of India and chief minister of Haryana, was O.P. Chautala’s father.
History repeating itself?
For the Jat-dominated INLD, family feuds are not a new phenomenon.
Decades ago, INLD founder Devi Lal had also chosen Chautala as his political heir over his other sons — Ranjit Singh and Pratap Singh.
As Chautala grew in power, taking full control of the party, Ranjit failed to counter him, and finally parted ways. The brothers remained estranged till Ranjit was alive.
What next for Dushyant?
Dushyant held a meeting at his official residence in New Delhi Saturday, where he said: “If there is one thing Devi Lal ji taught us, it that we must struggle.
“Till the time we hear orders from Doctorsahib (Dushyant’s father and former party general secretary Ajay Chautala) or Chautala ji, don’t lose hope. He (O.P. Chautala) is the head of the family, we have to respect him. No questions about him must be raised.”
Dushyant’s brother Digvijay Chautala was also suspended Friday. He has openly challenged the patriarch’s decision to disband the student wing of the party, INSO.
Family matters
Rumours of a rift within the family have been making the rounds for over a week now. It is said that trouble has been brewing between Abhay Chautala, the MLA from Ellenabad, and nephew Dushyant for almost a year, but it erupted Thursday.
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However, in a press conference held in Chandigarh Friday, Abhay — leader of the opposition in the Haryana assembly — said he had no knowledge of any show-cause notice being issued, or of Dushyant and Digvijay’s suspension from the party.
He also maintained that anyone who violates party discipline will face the consequences.
The trigger for this apparent snowballing of issues was a rally held on 7 October in Gohana, where members of the students and youth wing “hooted out” Abhay. Instead, they cheered for Dushyant, pitching him as the next chief ministerial candidate.
Digvijay, state president of INSO, even went so far as to assert that the only person who had a ‘right’ to dissolve the wings was his father, Ajay, the national president of the student party.
“INSO will continue working till I get any signal from my father, Ajay Singh Chautala,” he said.
Om Prakash and Ajay Chautala are serving a 10-year jail sentence after being convicted in the teachers’ recruitment scam, also known as the JBT (junior basic teachers) scam, in 2013.
The INLD, like many other regional parties, is a ‘family-first’ party, though it is now in an existential crisis, having not been in power for 14 years.
Sources close to Dushyant said he might soon meet Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, who has allied with the INLD in Haryana.