INLD, BSP to fight Haryana polls together, formal announcement likely next week

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have agreed in principle to form an alliance in the upcoming Haryana assembly polls due later this year. A formal announcement regarding the pact may is likely to be made next week.

INLD general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala and senior party leader Umed Lohan met BSP chief Mayawati in Delhi on Saturday.

Speaking over phone, INLD spokesperson Umed Lohan said the INLD and the BSP will contest the upcoming assembly polls together and talks on seat-sharing are on.

“We are working on a formula to bring all non-BJP, non-Congress parties under a single umbrella in Haryana under Abhay Chautala’s leadership. Many small parties are in touch with us. The announcement on the BSP-INLD alliance will be made next week in Chandigarh. This alliance will raise the voice of farmers, labourers, youths, women and government employees,” Lohan added.

INLD general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala also shared photographs of the meeting with Mayawati on his social media accounts. Abhay said he discussed various issues pertaining to Haryana with BSP supremo.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the INLD had contested on seven seats and managed to get 1.84 percent of the total vote share. Its offshoot JJP contested on all 10 seats and got 0.87 percent of votes across the state. The upcoming assembly polls are a litmus test for both parties led by members of the Devi Lal clam. Ellenabad MLA Abhay Singh Chautala is the face of INLD and his estranged brother Ajay Singh is heading the Jannayak Janata party. Once Haryana’s most prominent regional party, INLD is going through a rough patch, having just one MLA (Abhay Singh Chautala from Ellenabad) in the current assembly. All of its candidates had lost their deposits in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BSP had snapped its nine-month old alliance with the INLD months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and fought in alliance with the Loktantra Suraksha Party, led by BJP rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini. The BSP had cited the feud within the Chautala clan as the reason for snapping ties with the INLD. Later in August 2019, the BSP formed an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s JJP and snapped the ties with it the next month. Mayawati had snapped the tie with JJP by saying that the JJP’s demand of getting more seats is unacceptable.