INLD's Abhay Chautala Removed as Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly

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posted on 5 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Gujjar said the decision was taken as INLD is no longer the second largest party in the state Assembly House. He also confirmed that he had accepted the resignations of INLD MLAs Ranbir Singh Gangwa and Kehar Singh Rawat who had recently joined the BJP.

Chandigarh: Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar on Tuesday removed Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala from the position of Leader of Opposition (LoP).

Gujjar said the decision was taken as INLD is no longer the second largest party in the State Assembly. He also confirmed that he had accepted the resignations of INLD MLAs Ranbir Singh Gangwa and Kehar Singh Rawat who had recently joined the BJP.

The move comes three days after Chautala announced that he had sent his resignation to the Speaker, albeit with a caveat.

The Ellenabad MLA in his resignation letter to the Speaker had sought the disqualification of four INLD MLAs- Naina Chautala (Dabwali), Rajdeep Phogat (Dadri), Prithi Singh Namberdar (Narwana) and Anoop Dhanak (Uklana) alleging that they had joined Dushyant Chautala’s Janata Jananayak Party (JJP).

He had also asked that Ranbir Singh Gangwa be disqualified for shifting his loyalties to the BJP.

“I have sent my resignation to the Speaker. He should first disqualify the five MLAs and then accept my resignation,” Chautala said on Saturday.

Although it remains to be seen if the four INLD MLAs will be disqualified, Abhay Chautala was removed from the position due to INLD’s numbers reducing from 19 to 15.

“Abhay had put forth some conditions for his resignation, which were vague. Now the ball is in Congress’ court. Whosoever they nominate for the post, we will appoint him/her,” the Haryana Assembly speaker said. “Regarding the four INLD MLAs, Gujjar said that the decision would be taken after following the laid down procedure,” he added

Meanwhile, Congress Legislature party leader Kiran Chaudhary hit out at the INLD and said that the party is in “shambles”. “It was bound to happen. We have been stating from day one that the INLD is the B-team of the BJP. In reality, it is we who played the role of the Opposition,” he said.

INLD’s strength in the Haryana Assembly was first reduced to 17 after the demise of Jind MLA Hari Chand Midha and Pehowa MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu which brought it at par with the Congress, which also has 17 legislators in the 90-member house. Following this, the Jind by-election saw Midha’s son Krishan Midha emerge victorious on a BJP ticket.

Now with the exit of Gangwa and Rawat and the four MLAs who are said to have sided with the JJP, the INLD’s numbers have effectively reduced to 11.