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Are new players replacing

old ones in Haryana politics?

There is a sea change in Haryana politics. While new parties are Lok Dal (INLD) suffered a humiliating
emerging as strong players in the state, an old party is battling defeat in the Jind bypoll, with party can-
didate Umed Singh Redhu forfeiting his
for its survival, finds rajendra khatry security deposit, amidst the ongoing
family feud in the Chautala family.
he state politics is seeing a was even considered a threat to former Now the BSP has forged an alli-
sea-change in the recent Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda ance with the newly formed Loktantra
times with the emergence for the postof chief minister in case the Suraksha Party formed by Raj Kumar
of some new parties and an Congress came to power in the Vidhan Saini of the BJP. The BSP and the LSP
T old party going into oblivion. Sabha elections later this year. will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha
Two new parties came into existence But the humiliating defeat has put elections and Haryana Assembly polls.
recently. One is the Jananayk Janata paid to all that. So bad was Surjewala’s In Haryana, the BSP will contest on
Party (JJP) led by Hisar MP Dushyant loss that he barely managed to save his eight and the LSP on two Lok Sabha
Chautala. The other is the Loktrantra deposit by a mere 900 votes. Howver, seats. According to Meghraj, BSP presi-
Suraksha Party founded by rebel BJP the worst was in store for the INLD dent of Haryana, his party would con-
MP Raj Kumar Saini. candidate Umed Singh Redhu. Such test on 35 seats and the LSP on 55 seats
In the recent Jind by-election the in the Haryana Assembly polls later.
main opposition party in Haryana, the Earlier the BSP had hinted that it
Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) can- It was a loss of face might soon call off its alliance with
didate Sumedh Singh Redhu suffered the INLD. It had earlier also said that
an ignominious defeat. The ruling BJP for the grand old party it would part ways with the INLD if it
candidate Krishan Midha won the seat when Randeep Singh failed to get united. Raj Kumar Saini is
from Jind, while, JJP’s candidate Digvi- the rebel BJP MP from Kurukshetra,
jay Singh Chautala put up a spirited Surjewala suffered who last year floated his Loktantra
performance and gave a challenge to a humiliating defeat Suraksha Party (LSP) and the candi-
the BJP before losing to the ruling party date Vinod Ashri fielded by him in the
at the political hustings after presenting in the Jind bypoll Jind by-poll had put up a better per-
a creditable performance. and stood third after formance than INLD’s Redhu. Vinod
Interestingly in the 2014 assem- Ashri polled more than 12,000 votes to
bly elections the INLD candidate Hari Krishan Midha of remain fourth in the Jind by-poll
Chand Midha had won the Jind seat the BJP and Digvijay behind the winner Krishan Midha,
beating the BJP rival. The Jind by-poll Digvijay Chautala and Randeep Sur-
was necessitated due to the death of Chautala of the JJP jewala of the Congress.
Hari Chand Midha. Later his son Kris- Interestingly the INLD and the BSP
han Midha joined the BJP and was even had forged an alliance in April last
alloted the ticket from Jind. Now it is for was the impact of the disastrous sper- year. At that time both ruling BJP and
the first time in th history of Jind that formance of the INLD candidate in opposition Congress had described it as
the BJP has won an election there. the Jind by-poll that the BSP broke its a “marriage of convenience: which they
The Congress on the other hand suf- alliance with the INLD. The alliance entered into just to “grab power”. That
fered a loss of face when the Kaithal between the two parties lasted for just has proved true as the BSP has now
MLA and AICC Media Coordinator Ran- 9 months. severed its relations with the INLD. Last
deep Singh Surjewala suffered a humil- After breaking its alliance with the year after the alliance, the two parties
iating defeat in the Jind by-election and INLD, the BSP announced to forge ties had announced to jointly contest the
stood third behind the eventual winner with LSP, an outfit floated by rebel BJP 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, but
Krishan Midha of the BJP and Digvijay MP Raj Kumar Saini. In fact this devel- all that is a forgotten promise now.
Chautala of the JJP. Randeep Surjew- opment came just a few days after Om In fact a day after the Bahujan
ala’s reputation had been at stake. He Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Samaj Party talked about snapping of

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