Abhay Chautala resigns as Leader of Opposition, seeks disqualification of five legislators

CHANDIGARH: INLD secretary general Abhay Chautala on Saturday resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly and sought disqualification of five of his MLAs for alleged anti-party activities.nnAbhay Chautala, who is an MLA from Ellanabad said he would also write to the Lok Sabha Speaker to seek disqualification of Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, the son of his elder brother Ajay Chautala.nn”I have written a letter to the Haryana Assembly Speaker today and demanded the disqualification of four MLAs who are supporting Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for indulging in anti-party activities, said Chautala here.nnAjay Chautala’s two sons, Dushyant and Digvijay were expelled from the Indian National Lok Dal last November after their supporters had heckled Abhay Chautala at a rally in Gohana amid a power struggle in Chautala clan.nnThis eventually resulted in Ajay Chautala and his sons floating a new outfit, Jannayak Janata Party, with four INLD MLAs – Anup Dhanak (Uklana), Rajdeep Phogat (Dadri), Pirthi Singh (Narwana) and Naina Chautala (Dabwali), joining it.nnChautala said he has also asked the assembly Speaker to disqualify INLD MLA from Nalwa, Ranbir Singh Gangwa, who joined the BJP Friday.nn”I have also sent my resignation from the post of LoP to the speaker. In a letter to Speaker, I told him to accept my resignation when you disqualify them (five legislators), Chautala said.nnWith Gangwa leaving the party and four party MLAs supporting the JJP, INLD’s position as the principal opposition party and Abhay’s status as LoP has come under threat.nnThe strength of its MLAs had come down to 17 after the death of Jind MLA Harichand Middha and Pehowa legislator Jaswinder Singh Sandhu.nnThe Congress also has 17 MLAs in the Haryana assembly. In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the strength of the BJP is 48, INLD 17, Congress 17, BSP one and Akali Dal one, besides five independents.nnPehowa assembly seat is vacant since the death of INLD MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu.nnChautala said he would also write to Lok Sabha Speaker tomorrow, demanding disqualification of Dushyant Chautala who had won the Hisar seat in 2014 polls on the INLD symbol.