INLD war room: They cannot afford to go wrong

Chautalas at work: To the Indian National Lok Dal, the assembly elections are war, and the party think tank is at work, round the clock at times. The atmosphere is surcharged like never before but it cannot afford to err. The war-room managers, insiders say, are in a constant touch with party supremo Om Prakash Chautala, who with his elder son, Ajay Chautala, is in jail in the JBT teacher recruitment case. Either Chautalas talk to one of them or the other way round, sometimes daily, sometimes once in three days, says a confidant.

Digvijay Chautala, keeping tabs on social media

Conversant with the latest ideas, Ajay Chautala’s younger son, Digvijay, supervises the INLD presence on the social media from a separate wing at Gurgaon, where he has a huge team of professionals to assist him in reaching out to Twitter and Facebook users. The campaign ‘Golibaz Gulabi Gang Sarkar’, run under his supervision, is already a hit on the platforms. The team also ties up with radio and television channels.

KC Bangar, key adviser

One of the key INLD advisers, he is also party’s candidate from Gohana assembly segment. Apart from being party spokesman, he was vice-chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, besides chairman of Haryana Public Service Commission formerly. In consultation with the partysupremo, he decides the party strategy and spells out themethodology to execute it.

BD Dhalia, link with bureaucrats

Former senior bureaucrat, who was principal secretary to Om Prakash Chautala when latter was CM, researches on the concerns of state employees and acts as information exchange bridge between the party leaders and bureaucrats.

MS Malik, liaison with police

Former director general of police MS Malik is link between the men in khaki and the party. He conveys police issues to the party leaders and the other way round. His clout with police personnel is huge.

Nachhattar Singh Malhan, field coordinator

The INLD state secretary at the party headquarters in Chandigarh, Malhan was formerly partyin-charge of erstwhile Rori segment. He is the main field coordinator, who works out and finalises the various events and tours of the party leaders, besides ensuring that all logistics such as venue, vehicles and wherewithal are in place.

Ram Singh Brar, media planner

A former journalist from Dabwali who later became media adviser to the-then chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, Ram Singh Brar is chief media coordinator of the Indian National Lok Dal. He ensures that the party press releases about the activities and reactions of the leaders are covered by the media. His task is also to bridge the communication gap between scribes and party leaders.

RS Chaudhry, party’s fact finder

The INLD national general secretary and former Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor, RS Chaudhry shortlists and furnishes election campaign material after culling it from different sources and disseminates it to the media or get it compiled for other publications. He was also responsible for checking and cross-checking the “INLD charge-sheet” against the ruling Congress. He is the hotline between academia and the party.