INLD announces 3 more candidates; Abhay Chautala’s younger son also in fray

Tribune News Service
Kurukshetra, April 19

Indian National Lok Dal state chief Ashok Arora on Friday announced three candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

The party has fielded Abhay Chautala’s younger son Arjun Chautala from Kurukshetra, ex-serviceman Balwan Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh and ex-serviceman Dharmvir Fauji from Rohtak.

Amid the Chautala clan feud, another member of the family has thrown his hat into the poll ring.     

Arjun Chautala, younger son of INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala, has announced to contest from Kurukshetra seat in the Lok Sabha elections.

The 26-year-old INLD candidate told PTI the party has entrusted a huge responsibility on his shoulders and that he will try to live up to the expectations of the political outfit.

“I will take every section along and focus on the youth, of which about 60 per cent are into agriculture,” he said.

Fourth generation Chautala clan members Dushyant Singh Chautala and Digvijay Chautala—sons of Ajay Singh Chautala—have contested elections.

Ajay Chautala is the elder brother of Abhay Chautala. Both are sons of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, who in turn is the son of late former deputy prime minister Devi Lal.

Dushyant is the sitting MP from Hisar and is seeking re-election from the same seat. Digvijay, on the other hand, contested the Jind assembly by-election and remained a runner-up.

The feud in the INLD was the biggest political spectacle of Haryana in 2018.             

It saw Ajay Chautala and his sons Dushyant and Digvijay being expelled from the party by the senior Chautala, who threw his weight behind the younger son Abhay Chautala.

With his father serving jail sentence in a teachers recruitment scam, Dushyant launched the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in December 2018.

The party will declare its Gurugram candidate on Saturday. The INLD has already announced its six candidates. With PTI