Ajay Chautala expelled from INLD

INLD state president Ashok Arora announced the decision in the presence of Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala who is the younger son of Chautala.
Image for representational purpose only.
Image for representational purpose only.

CHANDIGARH: The family feud in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) escalated on Wednesday, after expelling both his grandsons--Member of Parliament from Hisar Dushyant Chautala and his younger brother Digvijay Chautala--from the INLD two weeks ago, former Haryana Chief Minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala today he expelled their father and his elder son Ajay Singh Chautala from the post of secretary general of the state unit of the party as well as from the primary membership of the party.

INLD state president Ashok Arora announced the decision in the presence of Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala who is the younger son of Chautala. Arora also showed a letter signed by Chautala in this regard. Reading the letter on behalf of Chautala in which Ajay Chautala has been expelled for running parallel activities in the name of the party and also holding an unconstitutional meeting of the state executive, said Arora.

He said on November 12, Om Prakash Chautala had asked him to take action against Ajay Chautala when the latter had called an "unconstitutional" meeting of the INLD state executive. "But we took taken the decision to expel Ajay Chautala today,'' he said. Arora said, "As per the party constitution, only national president Om Prakash Chautala or state president or someone authorized by them has the right to call a meeting of the state executive. Thus party has decided to expel Ajay Chautala from the primary membership of the party as he has been involved in anti-party activities." However, both Dushyant and Digvijay had refused to accept the order of their expulsion, stating that the party's national executive had not met and the expulsion order had not been signed by Om Prakash.

The infighting in the Chautala family has only widened in the last few days as Om Prakash's elder son Ajay was said to be locked in a power struggle with his younger brother Abhay Chautala. Ajay Chautala had called the state executive meeting at Jind on November 17. Significantly, the Abhay faction had also called a parallel meeting at Chandigarh on the same day asking all MLAs, Ex-MLAs and other office-bearers to attend the meeting. Ajay is serving a ten-year sentence, along with his father OP Chautala, in a teachers' recruitment scam in the state at Tihar jail and is currently out on a two-week parole. The INLD, which is the main opposition party in Haryana could be heading for a split with the fight within the Chautala family spilling out into the open over the past few days.

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