INLD names sitting Sirsa MP, 5 greenhorns for Lok Sabha polls in Haryana

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Wednesday named six candidates, including five political greenhorns, for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in Haryana. The candidates for the remaining four seats are likely to be declared by Friday.

While the INLD has repeated its sitting MP from Sirsa (reserved), Charanjit Singh Rori, it has fielded five candidates who have never fought any assembly or parliamentary polls in the past.

Declaring the names of the six candidates, the INLD leader Abhay Chautala told mediapersons that former deputy mayor of Ambala, Rampal Balmiki would contest from Ambala (reserved) and Dharamvir Padha from Karnal. Dharamvir is the president of INLD’s Karnal unit.

He said that while Surinder Chhikara would contest from Sonepat, Suresh Koth would fight from Hisar. While Chhikara is the acting president of the INLD unit in Sonepat, Koth has been a farmers’ leader.

Stating that INLD state body secretary Mahender Chauhan would contest from Faridabad, Abhay said the party would declare its candidates for the remaining four seats, namely, Rohtak, Gurugram, Kurukshetra and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh on Friday.

LAUDS RORI

Abhay and other party leaders also lauded Rori for his honesty by denying a bribe of ₹10 crore in lieu of lobbying for an industrial unit in a sting operation telecast by a TV channel.

JJP-AAP TRUCK

Asked about the alliance between INLD’s splinter outfit Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Abhay said that while both the parties are struggling to find its political base in the state, it was this alliance that was responsible for keeping INLD supremo in the jail.

It may be recalled that while the Tihar jail administration had granted 21-day furlough to Ajay Chautala, the elder son of INLD supremo, the AAP government in Delhi had opposed, in the high court, the parole plea of the INLD chief. Both Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Chautala are serving a 10-year jail term in a teachers’ recruitment case.