New Delhi: It was a do or die battle for the Indian National Lok Dal in the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections. The party, which fought an almost leaderless battle with its chief OP Chautala lodged in jail, lost badly as the 'Narendra Modi wave' took the Bharatiya Janata Party to a clear majority in the 90-member Assembly.
INLD had won 34 seats in the 2009 Assembly elections but five years later it has been reduced to just 21.
Chautala's grandson, Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala lost the Uchana Kalan seat to BJP's Prem Lata Singh. The seat was won by the senior Chautala in 2009.
With Chautala barred from contesting elections following his conviction and jail term in the JBT teachers' recruitment scam, the party was expecting its new heir to become the chief minister after winning this seat. The INLD has received a huge blow by Dushyant's defeat.
However, bringing in relief for the demoralised INLD camp are party leaders Abhay Chautala and Naina Singh Chautala who have won their respective seats. Abhay, who has been managing the party affairs ever since the arrest of the other two Chautalas registered a big victory in Ellenabad.
Naina, a debutant and the first woman from the Chautala family to contest an election too held her family's pride high by winning the Dabwali constituency with a margin of over 8,000 votes.
The dynasty politics of the Chautalas is losing ground in Haryana at a time when a 'wind of change' is blowing through the country after the Lok Sabha elections.
The party which had once ruled the roost in Haryana has been out of power for more than a decade now. Like Congress, the INLD too needs to undergo an overhaul to keep up with the fast changing political mood of the general public.
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