Soon after he went to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on a tractor to take oath as an MLA, INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said he would not hesitate to resign again if the farmers union says they want it. The general secretary of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won the Ellenabad assembly seat in the by-elections necessary because of his resignation over the Centre’s agricultural laws.
Reacting to his statement, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala described him as a “non-serious politician”. The INLD leader termed his victory in the Ellenabad bypoll as a victory for the farmers and said he would not hesitate to resign again over the laws.
Responding to a question, the MLA said that he would go to Delhi’s Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Shahjahanpur border to meet the protesting farmers. “I will meet the farmers. If the agriculture unions tell me that such a move is needed to repeal the black agricultural laws, I will not hesitate to resign again,” he said.
Chautala, who is the son of INLD president and former chief minister OP Chautala, drove a green tractor from his Sector 9 residence here to the assembly building. The MLA was accompanied by some of his family members, INLD state unit president Nafe Singh Rathi and former Haryana DGP MS Malik.
Abhay Chautala alleged that the state government openly misused the official machinery in the by-elections and used powers to lure voters with money. “We made 15 complaints to the Election Commission regarding violation of model code of conduct and also gave evidence including video in this regard, but we did not get any response,” he alleged.
The MLA said, “We demand a probe by the sitting judge into the open misuse of government machinery.” He said that heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces in a peaceful constituency is against logic.
“They pretended that this by-poll was being held in the Kashmir Valley. There used to be 20 vehicles of police and paramilitary forces along with the BJP candidate and those campaigning in his favour,” Chautala said. Responding to a question on reducing his victory margin this time as compared to the 2019 assembly polls, Chautala said that last time this time only 57,000 votes were cast in his favor as compared to around 65,000.
Chautala said, “It is despite the fact that BJP, JJP and Haryana Lokhit Party were fighting elections together against me and even Congress joined hands with them that I lost, but their hopes were dashed. Gone.” Abhay said that JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala, who is his elder brother, the latter’s MLA wife Naina Chautala and his sons Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala, tried their best to see that he loses the bypoll.
“Ajay Singh, both his sons, bhabhi (sister-in-law Naina) used to campaign from house to house till late night. More than Gobind, he was the only one contesting the elections,” he said. Abhay Chautala said that the Congress candidate had got 35,000 votes from this constituency in the 2019 assembly elections, but this time his deposit was forfeited.
He said that some votes were transferred to the BJP candidate due to the poor performance of the Congress. Meanwhile, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said Abhay was a “non-serious politician”. Dushyant said BJP-JJP candidate Gobind Kanda garnered around 60,000 votes and gave a tough fight to Abhay, which in itself was a victory for BJP-JJP workers.
Referring to Abhay, Dushyant said the people of Ellenabad have shown a mirror to those who claimed that they would win by a margin of over 30,000 votes.
Asked whether Abhay has said that he will not hesitate if farmers ask him to resign again, Dushyant said, “He has made the resignation a joke. Does an elected representative have any responsibility towards those people? Not those who have elected him. That is why I often say that he is a non-serious politician.”
The INLD leader defeated his nearest rival JJP-backed BJP candidate Gobind Kanda by a margin of 6,739 votes.
Pawan Beniwal of Congress stood third. Haryana Lokhit Party chief and MLA Gopal Kanda’s brother Gobind Kanda joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month.
Beniwal, who was unsuccessful in the last assembly election against Chautala, had recently switched from the BJP to the Congress.
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