Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 14
In a new twist to the ongoing family feud in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), party patriarch Om Prakash Chautala on Wednesday expelled his elder son Ajay Singh Chautala from his post of secretary general and from primary membership of the party.
Read: Not in CM race, let Chautala decide once INLD wins polls: Abhay to Ajay
Showing expulsion orders dated November 12 signed by Chautala, Ashok Arora, state president of the INLD, announced in presence of Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala that the party waited for two days in the implementation of the party patriarch's orders in the hope of a rapprochement.
Reading out the text of Chautala's letter, Arora said the party supremo has written that "Ajay Singh's activities have become unbearable and by convening a meeting of the party at Jind for November 17, he (Ajay) had done an unauthorised endeavour".
Ajay Singh's expulsion comes two weeks after the similar action against his sons Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala for "anti-party activities" during the INLD's Gohana rally where their supporters had allegedly created ruckus.
Arora also released a copy of orders dated November 1 signed by Chautala for expulsion of Dushyant and Digvijay in response to their statements that action against them was not taken by their grandfather, but by someone else in his (Chautala's) name.
Arora has also announced that a meeting of the state executive of the INLD will be held in Jat Bhawan at Chandigarh on November 17, the day Ajay Singh has called a meeting at Jind.
He has asked all MLAs, MPs, state executive members and special invitees to attend that meet.
Meanwhile, reacting to his father's expulsion at Panchkula today, Dushyant Chautala said he could not believe that Chautala could have taken such a decision, but if he had actually done this, it would be a black chapter in the history of the INLD.
With today's action, the chasm between Chautala brothers Ajay Singh and Abhay Singh has become wider and it seems unlikely that there can be any hope of rapprochement now.
The party patriarch Chautala and his elder son, Ajay, were convicted in the JBT recruitment scam in January 2013 and both were sentenced to 10 years' in prison by a CBI court in Delhi.
The duo has been barred from contesting elections due to the conviction and in their absence Abhay Singh has been leading the party's programmes.
The feud in the family which was going on for a while became apparent during Gohana rally of the INLD on October 7 when supporters of Dushyant Chautala raised slogans for naming him CM's candidate and allegedly resorted to hooting during Abhay's speech.