CHANDIGARH: Senior Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala resigned as the Leader of Opposition from Haryana assembly, as the number of MLAs dropped to twelve in the 90 member assembly.
The resignation comes two days after INLD MLA Ranbir Singh Gangwa switched over to the BJP. Chautala said he was writing to the speaker of the state assembly to disqualify Gangwa as well as four other MLAs Naina Chautala, Anoop Dhanak, Pirthi Nambardar and Randeep Phogat who had joined the newly formed Jananayak Janata Party. He said he would also write to Lok Sabha speaker for disqualification of Dushyant Chautala, who is INLD MP from Hisar as now he is JPP.
The INLD won 19 seats in 2014 assembly elections, but the party’s strength has been reduced to 17 after deaths of Jind MLA Hari Chand Middha, and Pehowa legislator Jaswinder Singh Sandhu. While the BJP won the Jind by-poll, the election for Pehowa seat will be held along with the Haryana assembly polls. The BJP's tally has increased to 48 MLAs after the by-poll win.
On the other hand, the Congress won 15 seats in 2014, but its strength in the assembly has increased to 17 after Kuldeep Bishnoi merged his HJC with the Congress, becoming the second largest party in the state.
The JJP came into existence in last December following a vertical split in the INLD, after a bitter power struggle between Ajay Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala, the grandsons of Devi Lal who had founded the INLD. Ajay and his two sons, Digvijay and Dushyant Chautala, were expelled from the INLD. The Dabwali MLA Naina is Ajay's wife.