New Delhi:

A felicitation ceremony of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) to mark the victory of its two legislators in the Haryana Assembly elections 2014, both hailing from the Chautala family saw the participation of Pakistani Parliamentarian Abdul Rehman Kanju.

The event, coinciding with Diwali celebrations turned many, with locals particularly youth, discussing the attendance of a Pakistani lawmaker in an event organised at the popular Chautala village in Sirsa.

The party also shared on its social media handle how Chautala residents held a grand reception for the chief guest of the event – Pakistani politician Abdul Rehman Kanju.

Sirsa, Haryana: Pakistani MP Abdul Rehman participated in an event organized by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Sirsa.

Pakistani MP Abdul Rehman says, “…I extend my greetings to all of you, and I am pleased to join your celebrations on the occasion of Diwali. I wish… pic.twitter.com/T7sHX4Xaur

— IANS (@ians_india) November 1, 2024

The felicitation ceremony was organised to celebrate the resurgence of INLD in Haryana politics and also to mark the Chautala clan taking on the mantle of its ancestors. In the 2019 elections, INLD was completely decimated with just Abhay Singh Chautala securing his seat; however, in the 2024 elections, the party’s vote share has seen modest gains. Arjun Chautala won Rania Assembly seat and Aditya Devilal Chautala won Dabwali, both with a margin of about 50,000 votes.

Abdul Rehman Kanju thanked the residents of Chautala village for giving a warm reception and said that he was overwhelmed with their love and warmth.

Recalling his ancestral links to a village near Punjab, he said that he lost his father at an early age and talked about the support he got from the Chautala family.

He expressed gratitude to the family for supporting him through the difficult phases of life and said that the Chautala family has been committed to people’s welfare for many decades and continues to do so till date.

He also extended Diwali greetings to all the villagers and prayed for the long life of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

“I appeal to the youth to always respect their elders as they are our guiding force,” he said addressing the crowd.

The INLD also issued an official statement on last evening’s felicitation Diwali function and said that the chief guest from Pakistan made the event more special.

“The hearts of all the villagers and our family member and MP Abdul Rehman Saheb, who came as the chief guest from Pakistan on this special occasion, for the felicitation ceremony organised to welcome Aditya Devi Lal and Arjun Singh Chautala on the land of our ancestral village Chautala yesterday evening, express our deepest gratitude. His participation in the event has made it all the more special.

Notably, Chautala village in Haryana’s Sirsa district has been home to as many as five Members of Parliament, 14 MLAs and a Deputy Prime Minister.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chandigarh:

The political landscape of Haryana dominated significantly by the Jat community has witnessed a drastic change in the last decade, ever since the BJP came to power in 2014, and continued its winning streak in 2024 as indicated by the results announced on Tuesday for the October 5 Assembly elections. 

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and its breakaway faction Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which played the kingmaker in the 2019 assembly poll, have been decimated this time.

Jats, who constitute about 27 per cent of the electorate and once the traditional vote base of Haryana’s regional parties, seemed to have made a sway — a shift that proved detrimental for INLD and JJP. 

While the results came as a massive setback for Dushyant Chautala, the youngest scion Arjun Chautala, however, managed to defeat Independent candidate and sitting legislator Ranjit Singh — an outcome from which the party might hope that all is not lost yet.

Both patriarch-dominated regional parties lost their grip, concentrated largely in rural areas, with their top leaders Abhay Singh Chautala of the INLD and his nephew Dushyant Chautala of the JJP biting the dust.

They are from the legacy of former Deputy Prime Minister and the state’s tallest Jat leader, Chaudhary Devi Lal who, with his family ruled the state’s dusty and defection-ridden politics for decades.

Abhay Chautala was defeated from his stronghold Ellenabad by Congress nominee Bharat Singh Beniwal. JJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala faced a major defeat from the Jat-dominated Uchana Kalan constituency, finishing sixth. BJP’s Devender Attri defeated Congress’ Brijendra Singh from Uchana Kalan seat in Jind.

Outgoing legislator Abhay Chautala has won the Ellenabad seat four times since 2010 and his grandfather, Devi Lal, served as the deputy prime minister.

Interestingly, the JJP, which was at the helm with the outgoing BJP government led by Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for four and a half years, has struggled to secure any seat or build a significant vote base across Haryana, marking a tough setback.

However, INLD’s youngest scion Arjun Chautala defeated Independent candidate and sitting legislator Ranjit Singh with 6,507 votes from Rania.

The INLD partnered with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), while its breakaway faction JJP, which had an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), promised to launch the Jannayak Fasal Suraksha Bima Yojana for the prosperity of farmers if the combine forms the government.

Eyeing the Dalit voters, who constitute 21 per cent of the state’s population, the JJP contested 70 seats, while the Azad Samaj Party fielded candidates in the remaining 20 seats.

Interestingly, the INLD stitched an alliance with the BSP to woo the Dalits with leaders of both parties agreeing to project Abhay Chautala as the Chief Minister’s face. As per the alliance, the INLD contested 53 seats, while the BSP fielded candidates on 37 seats.

At the launch of the JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliance, both Dushyant Chautala and Chandra Shekhar, who are both 36 years old, had promised to fight for the rights and welfare of the farmers and to form a “government of the youth”.

Dushyant Chautala’s brother, Digvijaya Singh Chautala, faced defeat from Sirsa’s Dabwali constituency, while Sunaina Chautala of the INLD lost from Fatehabad.

After the feud within the INLD, five-time Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala’s grandson Dushyant split the party vertically in 2018 and formed the JJP.

INLD’s breakaway faction, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), led by Dushyant Chautala, who in 2014 was the county’s youngest MP at the age of 26 and was the Deputy Chief Minister in the state government led by Manohar Lal Khattar, is in an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), while the INLD has tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

During the campaigning, the INLD was banking on its performance from March 2000 to March 2005, the longest term of Om Prakash Chautala. After that, the party emerged as the principal opposition party in the 2014 polls with 19 legislators. In the outgoing Assembly, the party has a lone legislator, Abhay Chautala.

The BJP’s vote share in the October 2019 Assembly election was 36.49 per cent when the party could not cross the halfway mark in the 90-member Assembly and stitched a post-poll alliance with the JJP.

The Congress registered over 15 per cent rise in its vote share in 2024 in comparison to the 2019 parliamentary election vote share.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jhajja:

Police have arrested another accused in Haryana Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) chief Nafe Singh Rathee murder case, officials said on Friday.

Earlier, the police had arrested two people in connection with the murder.

According to Jhajjar police, the shooters were arrested from Goa in a joint operation of Haryana’s Jhajjar police, Delhi Police Special Cell and the Haryana Special Task Force (STF).

The police said that the accused, identified as Saurav and Ashish, are residents of Delhi and are suspected of having links with the UK-based Kapil Sangwan gang.

The INLD chief Rathee was shot dead on February 25 by some unidentified assailants near the railway crossing at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar.

As per reports, the accused came in a car and fired, indiscriminately killing Rathee and a party worker.

On February 28, Kapil Sangwan, a gangster based in the United Kingdom, claimed responsibility for Rathee’s murder.

The gangster took to social media to say that he had put a hit out on the INLD leader, adding that the latter had a close friendship with rival gangster Manjeet Mahal.

Kapil alleged that Rathee worked in cahoots with Manjeet Mahal’s brother, Sanjay, to grab properties and provided assistance to Manjeet in the murder of his brother-in-law and friends.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)