Chautalas in a quandary over support to Sangma

While the party has been claiming that a final call on supporting Sangma will be taken only after Chautala,who is out of country,returns and holds a meeting,sources said that INLD leaders were in a quandary over lending support to a candidate “backed by the BJP.”

“No decision can be taken in the absence of party chief who is expected back in the country any moment. We also know that the decision has to be taken because the election is not too far away but it still needs to be discussed whether to support one of them or not to support any of them,” Ajay Singh Chautala said hinting that the party can even abstain from voting.

The INLD has 32 MLAs and one MP in the state and thus carries substantial number of votes in the presidential elections. However,both Sangma and the BJP are yet to contact Chautalas for their support.

Sources in the INLD said that the party was still awaiting a formal request from senior BJP leadership over supporting Sangma which seems possible in the wake of Chautalas’ relations with the senior leaders.

The bone of contention here is that the Haryana BJP after falling apart from the INLD has reached a pact with the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and together contested the Hisar Lok Sabha and Adampur Vidhan Sabha byelection.

Both the seats were won by the HJC — Hisar went to Bishnoi,while his wife Renuka won Adampur seat. As per the sources,the local BJP leadership does not want to enter into any pact with the INLD under any circumstances.

Meanwhile,the INLD has made it clear that it won’t support the Congress-led UPA government’s nominee. “We have been fighting against the misrule of Congress for the past many years and firmly believe that the party was the main reason of country’s major troubles. Hence there is not even an iota of possibility over supporting the Congress candidate,” Ajay Chautala said.