Haryana: Abhay Chautala gears up for mega rally on Devi Lal’s birth anniversary
This will be the first ‘samman diwas’ rally since the demise of Abhay’s father and former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala last December, making it a politically significant event for the party
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Abhay Singh Chautala has begun mobilising party cadres for a massive show of strength on September 25 in Rohtak to mark the birth anniversary of his grandfather and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. This will be the first ‘samman diwas’ rally since the demise of Abhay’s father and former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala last December, making it a politically significant event for the party.
On Monday, Abhay Chautala and state president Rampal Majra held meetings with workers from four assembly segments of Rohtak, following similar exercises across all 90 constituencies. Addressing party functionaries, Abhay said this year’s rally would “break all records” and that Rohtak’s people would provide renewed political strength to the INLD. “The people of Rohtak always supported Lok Dal. Now, as Congress has failed to dislodge the BJP from power, many former MLAs and ministers will join us on September 25,” he said.
When asked about speculation over former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar attending the event, Abhay clarified that there was no such plan, as only his son Arjun Chautala had paid a courtesy call.
However, he confirmed that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, would be present. He added that a decision on inviting leaders from outside the NDA or INDIA bloc would be taken after internal discussions, as such leaders often use our platform to push bloc politics, which is not acceptable.
Later in the evening, addressing villagers in Kanheli, Abhay launched an attack on senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, accusing him of secretly aiding the BJP. “The people of Haryana had made up their minds to oust the BJP, but they managed to stay in power because Hooda helped them,” Abhay alleged.
{{/usCountry}}Later in the evening, addressing villagers in Kanheli, Abhay launched an attack on senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, accusing him of secretly aiding the BJP. “The people of Haryana had made up their minds to oust the BJP, but they managed to stay in power because Hooda helped them,” Abhay alleged.
{{/usCountry}}He cited multiple instances, including an FIR against a businessman and Hooda ahead of the last assembly elections where Hooda escaped arrest, and the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls in which 12 Congress votes were declared invalid due to an ink row allegedly engineered by BJP leaders with Hooda’s tacit cooperation. He further claimed Hooda helped BJP by retaining tickets of 30 Congress MLAs facing anti-incumbency and backing independents in several constituencies to weaken his own party’s candidates.
{{/usCountry}}He cited multiple instances, including an FIR against a businessman and Hooda ahead of the last assembly elections where Hooda escaped arrest, and the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls in which 12 Congress votes were declared invalid due to an ink row allegedly engineered by BJP leaders with Hooda’s tacit cooperation. He further claimed Hooda helped BJP by retaining tickets of 30 Congress MLAs facing anti-incumbency and backing independents in several constituencies to weaken his own party’s candidates.
{{/usCountry}}In Uchana, Abhay said, Hooda-backed independents ensured the defeat of Congress candidate Brijendra Singh, close to Rahul Gandhi, by just 32 votes. He alleged Hooda also denied tickets to leaders such as Ram Kishan Fauji, Sharda Rathore, and Jitender Bhardwaj. “Hooda has sidelined senior leaders like Rao Inderjit Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Kumari Selja, Kiran Choudhry, and Ashok Tanwar to promote his son Deepender,” Abhay added.
Abhay also accused Hooda and his son of neglecting rural Rohtak. “They avoided social functions in villages. Now, after I toured Rohtak for three days, they suddenly started visiting in the name of flood-affected villages,” he said. He stressed that Rohtak has been the INLD’s stronghold since the time of Devi Lal and OP Chautala, and people were now “fed up with the politics of the Hooda family.”
Turning his fire towards the ruling BJP, Abhay described chief minister Nayab Singh Saini as a “dummy CM” controlled by Delhi leadership. “Officers are not listening to him, and people of Haryana are suffering the consequences,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) senior vice-president Balwan Suhag, along with several associates, joined the INLD in Abhay’s presence, further boosting the party ahead of the September rally.
