Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s grandson Dushyant Chautala, who was recently expelled from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), floated his own political outfit, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). He launched the new party at a rally in Jind, on Sunday, 9 December.
Dushyant Chautala is an MP from Hisar. Ajay Chautala, his father, had in November announced that a new party will be formed, adding that it will contest 2019 assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls from all 10 seats in the state.
Time Has Come for New Beginning: Dushyant
Addressing the public gathering in Jind, Dushyant Chautala said that time has come to make a new beginning and bring in a change, while promising that the new outfit will follow the path shown by Devi Lal and lay foundation for ouster of BJP, Congress and the INLD in upcoming polls.
The new outfit will contest all 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state and also fight the Vidhan Sabha polls, he said. "Today, every party has lost connect with the people..people want change and our party will provide them the alternative," Dushyant said.
He also touched upon the circumstances and developments which took place in recent weeks within INLD that ended in a split and the decision to float the new outfit.
“Flow of rivers cannot be stopped...,” he said, taking a veiled dig at his uncle Abhay Singh Chautala, who while addressing a meeting of party’s state executive in Chandigarh on Sunday, claimed that the new outfit will disintegrate shortly.
Ajay Chautala's new party is being launched following a split last month in the INLD, a result of the power struggle between him and his younger brother Abhay Chautala. Ajay and his two sons Digvijay and Dushyant were expelled from the party in November.
Ajay, who is undergoing a 10-year jail term with father Om Prakash Chautala since 2013 in a teachers' recruitment scam, is currently lodged in Tihar jail and had been out on parole for a brief period last month.
Babita Chautala Present at Rally
Wrestler Babita Phogat, who is rumoured to join the JJP, was also present at the rally. Speaking to The Quint, on the sidelines of the rally, Babita said that Dushyant was the ‘youth icon’ of Haryana and that he was not treated properly by the INLD.
Abhay Chautala Dares Dushyant
Abhay Chautala dared Dushyant to resign as Lok Sabha member of the INLD if he was so sure of his popularity. He claimed that the group led by Ajay had hinted to walk a separate path when they formed organisations like Jannayak Sewa Dal and INSO.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)