Post poll, INLD leaders vow against going with BJP

Facing allegations from the Congress about playing the role of cutting into the anti-BJP vote-bank, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders and candidates have been facing a tough time convincing the electorate the possibility of going with the BJP in the post-poll scenario.

The INLD is contesting on 51 seats, while its alliance partner, BSP, has fielded its candidates on 38 seats in Haryana.

While the INLD leader and Ellenaband MLA Abhay Singh Chautala has claimed that he had been the strongest opponent of the ruling BJP, the INLD candidate from the Barwala Assembly constituency, Sanjana Satrod, at a public rally in Niyana village of the Barwala segment, made it clear that she would not extend her support to the government headed by the BJP. “If a situation arises under any circumstances after the elections that she has to back the BJP in government formation, she would instantly resign from the Assembly. I am ready to give in writing,” she said amid a loud applause from the gathering.

Notably, the INLD has been trying to revive its fortunes in the Haryana politics after it nosedived to its worst-ever performance in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections when it failed to win any seat and could win just one seat in the 2019 Assembly polls. The INLD used to be a force to reckon with in the Haryana politics till the bitter split in the Chautala family in 2018. While Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) harvested almost the entire political capital of the INLD after the split in December 2018, the INLD, headed by Abhay Chautala, was left high and dry.

Party spokesperson Rakesh Sihag said the party had taken the official stand that it would sit in the Opposition rather than going with the BJP after the elections. “We will not support the BJP in the Assembly at any cost,” he reiterated.

The INLD and also its splinter group, JJP, are being targeted by the Congress leader Deepender Hooda, alleging that they are working as the B-team of the BJP. “They are assigned the task of ‘vote katua’ (vote-cutters). These parties have been assigned the task of cutting into the votes of the Opposition to give benefit to the BJP,” Hooda alleged at a rally in Sarsod village of the Barwala Assembly segment. “The JJP’s support to the BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls was evidence of my point. Moreover, Abhay Singh Chautala largely stood by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha and the presidential election in the Assembly. Now, the Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda, who has a tie-up with the INLD, spilled the beans, which revealed that their alliance will go with the BJP after the Assembly polls which left no doubt in the minds of electorate,” Deepender alleged.