Ajay Chautala hints at rejoining INLD; Abhay says no place for 'traitors'

Chandigarh: JJP chief Ajay Chautala has said he could rejoin the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) if its chief OP Chautala takes the initiative but his brother and INLD senior leader Abhay Chautala ruled out the reunion, saying there is no place for "traitors" in the party.

Replying to a question from reporters in Charkhi Dadri on Monday if the JJP and the INLD could once again come on one platform, Ajay Chautala said, "It depends on (INLD chief OP) Chautala sahab. It is the job of elders to take the initiative." "Many people are trying in this regard but the initiative has to be taken by Chautala sahab," Ajay Chautala, the father of former Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, said.

"We will go tomorrow if he calls us," he said, responding to a question on any possible initiative by his father OP Chautala, a former Haryana chief minister.

Ajay Chautala and Dushyant Chautala formed the JJP in December 2018 after a split in the INLD earlier that year following a feud in the Chautala family.

In 2019, the JJP extended support to the BJP after the saffron party fell short of the majority mark in the assembly elections. The BJP-JJP alliance ended last month.

On Tuesday, INLD senior leader Abhay Chautala hit out at Ajay Chautala, calling the JJP founders "traitors" who betrayed the INLD and OP Chautala.

"First they should say why they left, what the vested interest was. When they left, the INLD had a tie-up with the BSP and there was a situation that the INLD would have come to power (in the 2019 assembly elections). Why did they indulge in indiscipline?," Abhay Chautala said in a video message.

"They should make all these things clear why they left the party," he said.

Referring to the resignations of the JJP's Haryana unit chief Nishan Singh and some other leaders, Abhay Chautala said, "Now, they (Ajay Chautala) are saying these things because their party is finished. It is finished socially as well as politically … they are saying such things to prevent desertions in their party." "You must have seen how their leaders are leaving," he said.

"Earlier, too, Chautala sahab made it clear many times that they have nothing to do with us. They are traitors and they backstabbed the party. They betrayed Chautala sahab," said Abhay Chautala.

"There is no place for such people in the INLD. Chautala sahab also does not have any place for them," he added.