INLD opposed Cong throughout, now ready to sit in its lap: JJP chief

Ajay Singh Chautala was commenting on Abhay Singh Chautala recently saying that he would extend an invite to the Congress for the party’s Kaithal rally to mark the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal on September 25.

“I was reading in the newspaper that Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala and the INLD, which opposed the Congress for its entire life, are saying if (Congress leader) Bhupinder Singh Hooda comes to the ‘Samman Divas’ rally (on September 25) they will welcome him,” said Ajay Singh Chautala.

He further said, “While they used to target us (JJP) for joining hands with the BJP, now they are ready to sit in the Congress’ lap.” The INLD is to join forces with the Congress despite not being included in the opposition INDIA bloc, he added.

Ajay Singh Chautala claimed that the INLD booked train tickets to Patna, Mumbai and Bengaluru for party leaders to attend the (INDIA bloc) meetings but those went to waste because no one invited them. He was addressing the JJP “Nav Sankalp” rally in Dadri town of the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Abhay Singh Chautala recently said top leaders of the INDIA bloc would attend the “Samman Divas” rally in Kaithal on September 25.

He later added that he would personally meet Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi and extend an invitation.

Asked about the ideological differences between the INLD and the Congress, Abhay Singh Chautala had said, “We once had good relations with the BJP. When the Congress was weakening the country, we supported the BJP and formed a government. Now, when the BJP is ruining the country, we have no reservations with the Congress.” Addressing the event in Dadri, Ajay Singh Chautala’s son and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala asked party workers to start preparing for the Lok Sabha and the Haryana assembly polls in 2024.

Both the JJP and the BJP earlier said that they were preparing to contest all 10 Lok Sabha and 90 assembly seats in the state but remained non-committal if the two parties would contest jointly.

Dushyant Chautala said his party fulfilled maximum promises it had made ahead of the polls and told the gathering that it was “possible because you have a stake in the government”. He asked the workers to publicise the party’s works while in government and build a wave in its favour.

“I would like that the 10 (assembly) seats we have now (will) have to be increased (in the next assembly polls),” Dushyant Chautala said.

The JJP will also celebrate Devi Lal’s birth anniversary in Rajasthan’s Sikar district on September 25 as “Kisan Vijay Samman Divas” to honour farmers, soldiers and women. The party is also looking to contest the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan. The JJP was formed in 2018 after a split in the INLD following a feud in the Chautala clan.

(With PTI inputs)