Speculation rife as INLD’s Arora, JJP’s Swati in touch with BJP

CHANDIGARH: With their political parties decimated almost completely in the last month’s Lok Sabha elections by the BJP, Ashok Arora, who recently resigned from the post of state president of the INLD, and Swati Yadav, who contested the Lok Sabha poll from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat on the JJP ticket, are said to be in touch with the saffron party leading to speculations about their future plans.

Ashok Arora

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 12

With their political parties decimated almost completely in the last month’s Lok Sabha elections by the BJP, Ashok Arora, who recently resigned from the post of state president of the INLD, and Swati Yadav, who contested the Lok Sabha poll from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat on the JJP ticket, are said to be in touch with the saffron party leading to speculations about their future plans.

Arora, who had a meeting over tea with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, had tendered his resignation from the post of the state president of the INLD after the party’s worst-ever performance in the Lok Sabha poll, while Swati, according to sources, met senior leaders of the saffron party at its state headquarters in Rohtak on Monday.

The INLD could get just 1.89 per cent of the votes while the JJP had a slightly better vote share of 4.89 per cent, with the former failing to win from any Assembly segment while the latter managing to get a slender lead from only one of the 90 Assembly segments of the state. When contacted, Arora said he had relinquished the charge of the state president of the INLD, but did not comment on his future plans. “Chautala Saab (INLD patriarch OP Chautala) called me to discuss my resignation. I humbly declined to continue on the post. As of now, I am with the INLD as a normal worker,” Arora said.

However, sources said that Arora’s entry into the BJP was a certainty but the only thing was that the saffron party was in a fix over the Assembly segment from where he could be fielded, since the Thanesar constituency of Kurukshetra, which Arora won four times in 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2009, was now represented by Subhash Sudha of the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha.

Sources said that even the INLD had an inkling about his political moves and the reason why Chautala accepted his resignation was that he did not want his party to face the embarrassment of his state president switching over to the other party.

Swati did not respond to calls made on her mobile, but her father Satyavir Yadav said that as of now his daughter was in the JJP, but could not comment about the future.

“I am not a political person. Swati is one. The decision, if any, is to be taken by her only. As far as speculations about her entry to the BJP are concerned, let me tell you that we are busy in the engagement function of my son,” Yadav said.However, sources in the BJP confirmed Swati’s visit to the party’s office in Rohtak and claimed that she had expressed her desire to join the party in the presence of Khattar. The sources said that it could be difficult for the BJP to accommodate Swati with party ticket in the Vidhan Sabha poll as all four Assembly segments of the Ahirwal under her Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat are currently represented by the BJP MLAs – Ram Bilash Sharma (Mahendragarh), Om Prakash (Narnaul), Abhey Singh Yadav (Nangal Choudhry) and Santosh Yadav (Ateli).

Saffron party in a fix

Sources said Ashok Arora’s entry into the BJP was a certainty but the only thing was that the saffron party was in a fix over the Assembly segment from where he could be fielded, since the Thanesar constituency of Kurukshetra, which Arora won four times, was now represented by Subhash Sudha of the BJP.