People faced serious problems

Published : Nov 20, 2009 00:00 IST

Ajay Singh Chautala: The Congress government had many deficiencies.-AKHILESH KUMAR

Ajay Singh Chautala: The Congress government had many deficiencies.-AKHILESH KUMAR

THE Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has emerged as the second largest party in the Assembly elections held recently in Haryana. Political pundits had written it off after its successive dismal performances, first in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004, then in the Assembly elections of 2005, and finally in the Lok Sabha polls held in May 2009. Ajay Singh Chautala, who got elected from the non-reserved seat of Dabwali, the home constituency of the Chautala family, spoke to Frontline on the resurrection of his party. Excerpts:

No one expected the INLD to perform the way it did in these elections. What are the reasons for its impressive performance?

It is mainly because we followed the policies laid down by the late Chaudhary Devi Lal and fought the elections under the leadership of Om Prakash Chautala. Thirty of our people left us to join the Congress after we could not win a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections. Leaders such as Sampat Singh, Jagdish Yadav, Kailasho Saini, M.L. Ranga and Sushil Kumar Indora deserted us. Even the Bharatiya Janata Party did not think it should ally with us. Everyone felt that we would not get a double-digit figure. But Chautala Sahib ran a campaign under the broad policies laid down by the late Chaudhary Devi Lal. Never have we won more than 25 seats by going it alone. This was the first time that we won 31 seats on our own and in 10 seats we lost by fewer than 5,000 votes.

The Congress government had many deficiencies. The economic situation in the State had become very bad. For four and a half years, people faced serious problems following shortage of water and electricity. The law and order situation deteriorated. As far as jobs are concerned, the [Bhupinder Singh] Hooda government discriminated against everyone who did not belong to Rohtak. Hooda was Chief Minister of Rohtak rather than of Haryana.

After the Lok Sabha elections of 2004, then the Assembly elections in 2005 and then again the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, there was a perception that the Jat votes had swung away from the INLD and that the new Jat leader on the horizon was Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Not only the Jats, but members of 36 biraadari [communities] voted for us. If you see the results, you will observe that we performed very well in the Jat belt of Jind, Kaithal and Kurukshetra. Even in non-Jat-dominated constituencies such as Sirsa, Panchkula, Yamunanagar or Karnal, we did very well. We did very well in the reserved constituencies as well. Then the Muslim voters threw their weight behind us. Even in the seats we lost, our candidates came second. For the first time, we made headway in constituencies such as Pataudi, Bawal and Nangal Chaudhary in the Ahirwal area. The vote margins in Ateli and Mahendargarh were very narrow. If you leave out Sonepat, Jhajjar and Rohtak [where the Congress is very strong], voters elsewhere were fully behind us. Even in these constituencies, we came second.

What were the reasons for your dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections? You even had an alliance with the BJP in terms of a seat-sharing arrangement.

In the Lok Sabha elections, national issues prevailed. The electorate had to choose between L.K. Advani and Manmohan Singh. It was a choice between the National Democratic Alliance government and the United Progressive Alliance government.

People felt that the UPA was a better choice. But what happened was that the BJP votes did not get transferred to us. In the rural areas, where we have our base, we transferred our votes to our alliance partner [the BJP], but we did not gain from it. Even the BJP leadership admitted this. Had there been an alliance, we would have got a two-thirds majority in the State.

People have rejected the Congress. It is true that the BJP did not do well, but it would have done well in an alliance. We are going to try to keep the Congress out of power as it has done a lot of damage to the State.

Do you think at some stage there might be a merger of political parties against the Congress? Is it possible to have a third front representing a secular, non-Congress alternative?

Yes, people who have samaan vichaar [common thinking] should come together. Anything is possible in politics, including a third front, a secular alternative, in the future.

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