Ranks finally forced the INLD leadership to pull the plug

The party now plans to organise a rally at Ramlila Ground in Delhi on March 6 to protest against the hike in the prices of urea, rice, wheat and sugar to redeem its prestige and keep its flock together. "It was a calculated move. If the government had agreed to roll back the prices, we would have benefited immensely. When they refused to oblige, we decided to withdraw support to protect the interest of farmers and poor," confided a senior INLD leader in this reporter.

The trouble-shooters in the Vajpayee Government led by Union Defence Minister George Fernandes are hopeful of placating the INLD leader to rescind his decision but they are unlikely to succeed if the aggression displayed by the party rank and file at the Panipat meeting is any indication. The party workers had aggressively favoured withdrawal of support to the coalition government, ruling out any compromise on the issue.

In fact, there is apprehension that any attempts by the party leadership to backtrack on the decision may trigger off desertions. "There is no question of having second thoughts on the issue of unconditional support. We don’t want to be a party to their anti-people policies because we have suffered a lot on this account. But we will not let the Congress grab power," INLD President Om Parkash Chautala said.

What’s more, when the INLD extended support to the coalition government last year, its main agenda was to replace the Bansi Lal-led HVP-BJP Government in Haryana. But the relations got strained after the BJP ignored their demand for dismissal of the state government. The plummeting image of the Vajpayee Government, which has lurched from disaster to disaster in the past 11 months, did not make things better. "The ministers were making a spectacular mess of things. We were just watching from the sidelines. Efforts were made to highlight these problems but nothing really happened," according to former Home Minister and a senior INLD leader Sampat Singh.

What further strained the relations were the results of the assembly elections in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The INLD, which had hoped to bag at least four of the seven seats it contested in Delhi and Rajasthan in alliance with the BJP, suffered an ignmonious defeat. Chautala even blamed the BJP leaders for the defeat of his candidates. The BJP workers not only refused to campaign for INLD candidates but worked against them, he claimed.

Worse, the rivals, particularly the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda, took advantage of the situation, accusing Chautala of "hypocrisy". This, coupled with the attempts of Hooda and other leaders to prepare the pitch for the return of farmers to the Congress party, added to the discomfort of the INLD leaders. Their dilemma was more than evident in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha where they were forced to maintain silence when the Congress criticised the Vajpayee Government on crucial issues such as SYL and compensation for damage to crops. The withdrawal of support may have given them an opportunity to redeem their prestige, but it is likely to ease pressure on the Bansi Lal Government.