INLD — to join or not to join
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 7 — After masterminding the runaway success of the NDA in his state, Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is now facing a dilemma on the question of his party, the Indian National Lok Dal, joining the government at the Centre.

Inaugurating the campaign in the rallies addressed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee at Karnal on August 20, Mr Chautala had driven home the NDA’s message by appealing "Ainak laga ke, phool ke nishan per mohar lagana" (the appeal engulfed the INLD and BJP election symbols — "Pair of Spectacles" and "Lotus", respectively). In an unprecedented response, Haryana’s electorate responded by giving a lead to the NDA’s candidates in 85 of the 90 Assembly segments in the state and returning INLD-BJP candidates from all 10 Lok Sabha seats.

The Assembly segment-wise showing of the NDA candidates has a mixed message: in the 45 segments of the five Lok Sabha seats contested by the INLD, it faced defeat in only one — Mr Bansi Lal’s home constituency, Tosham. In the remaining constituency, including Mr Bhajan Lal’s Adampur, the INLD led. (Mr Bhajan Lal, as part of the election rhetoric, had said if Mr Chautala wins at Adampur, he will accept him as his "Guru" — it remains to be seen if this election-time "promise" will indeed be honoured.)

The BJP candidates led in 41 of the 45 Assembly segments covered by the five Lok Sabha seats won by the party. The BJP trailed at Mahendergarh, the home constituency of its Vidhan Sabha floor leader, Prof Ram Bilas Sharma, and in three Meo-dominated segments of the Faridabad constituency — Nuh, Tauru and Ferozepur Jhirka.

The option before Mr Om Prakash Chautala now, therefore, is whether to concentrate on consolidating his gains and spreading the influence of the INLD among non-Jat voters or to be vicariously liable for the performance of the 24-party alliance government which is to be formed at the Centre.

Another question which dogs the Haryana Chief Minister is the choice of the party’s nominee in case the INLD joins the Vajpayee-led Council of Ministers. He is aware of the criticism which his friend and political ally, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Parkash Singh Badal, faced following the induction of Mr Sukhbir Badal as a Union Minister of State. Thus, while Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, who has a track record of his own in politics (he had been elected twice to the Rajasthan Assembly and had lost the last Lok Sabha election by a narrow margin) could be a possible nominee, it may immediately invite criticism and create chasms in the edifice which Mr Om Prakash Chautala has painstakingly put up in the past few months.

Apart from the dilemma faced by the INLD, the other NDA partner from the North, Shiromani Akali Dal, too faces a dilemma. After the party’s rout and the defeat of both its Central Ministers, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala and Mr Sukhbir Badal, the party is at a loss about its nominee in the Central government.

It is reliably learnt that Mr Parkash Singh Badal was initially reluctant even to come to Delhi for tomorrow’s meeting of the NDA leaders at the Prime Minister’s house. Mr Chautala played a role in persuading Mr Badal to be present at this crucial meeting.

Both the winning SAD candidates in the Lok Sabha elections are comparative political lightweights. Thus the choice of being a minister may ultimately fall on the party’s Secretary-General and Rajya Sabha member, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

The BJP leadership, meanwhile, is debating whether its alliance with the SAD in Punjab has any validity outside the state. While the party values the Punjab alliance, the present electoral rout notwithstanding, it is now being said that the Sikh voters outside Punjab are apparently not influenced by the alliances of Punjab — that is perhaps the reason for the Sikhs in Delhi not abandoning the BJP despite the success of the Congress in Punjab and the presence of a well-known Sikh, Dr Manmohan Singh, as the candidate from South Delhi.

Meanwhile, Mr Om Prakash Chautala paid a courtesy call on the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. He had called on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, to congratulate him on the results, yesterday.