Mayawati to review INLD alliance after Chautala family rift costs Jind bypoll

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has decided to review her party’s alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana following the escalation of the feud in the Chautala clan.

During a meeting held in Delhi on Monday to discuss the strategy for Lok Sabha election, BSP leaders and office-bearers from Haryana reportedly told Mayawati that the Chautala family feud had changed political equations in state politics.

The impact of the infighting reflected in the recent Jind assembly bye-election in which INLD candidate Umed Singh lost his deposit and finished fifth while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged the seat.

Rebel INLD leader Digvijay Singh Chautala, who has floated the Jan Nayak Janta Party with his brother Dushyant Chautala, emerged runner-up while Congress candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala finished third.

Digvijay and Dushyant are the sons of Ajay Singh Chautala, the elder son of former Haryana CM and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala.

Om Prakash and Ajay are currently serving 10-year jail sentence after being convicted in teachers recruitment scam. Abhay Chautala, the younger son of Om Prakash, is managing the party affairs.

“The national chief was of the view that the BSP entered into an electoral pact with a united INLD. The party however got split with Hisar MP, Dushyant Chautala forming a new political outfit. The split not only cost INLD the Jind bypoll, the BSP movement in Haryana was also getting adversely affected due to the family feud. We can carry on with the alliance only if the Chautala family gets united. Otherwise, the party will have a re-think,” BSP’s Haryana unit president Prakash Bharti said.

Bharti said he will convey this to the leader of the opposition and INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala and INLD state party president Ashok Arora.

A leader, who was present in the meeting, said Mayawati told the party leaders that the rift in the Chautala family was widening and it might have a negative impact on the alliance.

“She said the defeat of INLD in Jind bye-election was a result of infighting in the family. Mayawati said the BSP would go into an alliance with INLD only if the Chautalas stand united,” the leader said.

The office-bearers told Mayawati that the party organisation had been strengthening and expanding its base in Haryana.

Another BSP leader who was present in the meeting said that the party was likely to go it alone in Haryana.

Reacting to the BSP’s move, INLD general secretary RS Chaudhary said the BSP has merely announced a re-think about the alliance.

“Such announcements are made for negotiations only. The BSP has not announced breaking ties with the INLD. We have called a state executive meeting on February 6 in Chandigarh where we this the issue be discussed,” he said.

Mayawati and INLD leader Abhay Chautala had announced their pre-poll alliance in Haryana in May last year. Riding on Jat-Jatav formula, the alliance had planned to defeat the BJP and the Congress in the Lok Sabha election.

Political observers said there were about 40 assembly seats (out of a total of 90) in Haryana where the BSP holds a vote share of 7 to 8 %. And there are about 60 assembly seats where the INLD has a vote share of about 30 %.

The two parties had earlier also formed an alliance with good results during 1998 Lok Sabha elections.