Haryana Assembly Election: ‘Abhay Chautala’ will be the CM face, BSP and INLD come together in Haryana assembly elections

INLD-BSP in Haryana assembly elections: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has fielded Mayawati-led Bahuja Samaj Party (BSP) have announced their alliance with the INLD. Leaders of the two parties, Abhay Chautala and Akash Anand, formally announced their alliance at a press conference in Nayagaon on the outskirts of Chandigarh on Thursday, July 11. INLD leader Abhay Chautala will be the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate in Haryana.

Announcing the alliance with BSP, INLD general secretary Abhay Chautala said that this alliance is not based on any selfishness but has been formed keeping in mind the sentiments of the people. Abhay Chautala said, “We have decided to fight the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana together. Today the sentiment of the common people is to oust the BJP from power, which is looting the state and to keep the Congress party away from power, which has looted the state for 10 years.” Chautala said that Chaudhary Devi Lal and BSP founder late Kanshiram worked to bring about a big change in this country.

Abhay Chautala will be the CM face

The Indian National Lok Dal has emerged as the senior ally in the BSP-INLD alliance, with BSP national coordinator Akash Anand on Thursday announcing that if the alliance comes to power, senior leader Abhay Chautala will be made the chief minister of Haryana.

Seat sharing arrangement: INLD will be the senior ally

As per the seat-sharing arrangement worked out by the two parties, the BSP will contest 37 out of the 90 assembly seats in Haryana and leave the rest for its senior ally in Haryana, where the ruling BJP is seeking to come to power for a third consecutive time.

BSP national coordinator Akash Anand said that recently BSP supremo Mayawati and Abhay Chautala had a detailed meeting on July 6 to strengthen the alliance. He said, ‘It was decided in that meeting that out of 90 assembly seats in Haryana, BSP will contest on 37 seats while INLD will contest on the remaining seats.’

Will more parties join the alliance?

Abhay Chautala expressed confidence that more parties will join his alliance in the coming time. He said that if needed, he will also talk to Aam Aadmi Party to join the alliance. Chautala said that both the parties will form a joint committee to discuss with other parties. When asked about seat sharing if more parties decide to join the alliance, Chautala said that they will be allotted seats from INLD’s quota. Earlier, INLD state unit chief Rampal Majra said that all non-BJP and non-Congress parties should ‘come together and strengthen the hands of Abhay Singh Chautala, a well-wisher of farmers and working class.’

Poor performance of BSP and INLD in recent elections

INLD and BSP fought the recently held Lok Sabha elections in Haryana separately but faced a crushing defeat. Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party contested 9 out of 10 parliamentary seats while INLD fielded candidates on seven seats. However, both the parties did not get a single seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Abhay Chautala, who is the only INLD MLA in Haryana, also contested from Kurukshetra parliamentary seat but lost.

Why did BSP and INLD break their alliance in 2019

This is the third time BSP and INLD have formed an alliance. The two parties had formed an alliance in 2018, which broke within a few months due to poor performance in the Jind assembly elections. Amid feud in Abhay Chautala’s family, BSP broke its 9-month-old alliance with INLD in 2019. Then, the Abhay Chautala-led INLD was the main opposition party in Haryana. The two parties had also fought the 1998 Lok Sabha elections together. INLD had fielded candidates on 7 parliamentary seats, while it had left three seats for alliance partner BSP.