Congress's former Haryana unit chief Ashok Tanwar, who on Wednesday announced his support to Dushyant Chautala-led Jananayak Janta Party in state polls, has decided to also back senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala on the Ellenabad seat.
"Abhay came to meet me at my residence at Sirsa in the evening. I consulted my supporters. I said if they have decided to support him (Abhay) on one seat (Ellenabad), then I have no issues," Tanwar told PTI over phone.
Tanwar's supporters were of the view that he and Abhay Chautala, seeking re-election from Ellenabad seat in Sirsa district, have the same objective of stopping the BJP from returning to power and to teach the Congress a lesson.
Abhay Chautala is the son of INLD president and former chief minister O P Chautala. His Indian National Lok Dal is facing a crisis after a vertical split in the party last year because of a feud in the Chautala clan and because of an exodus of its sitting MLAs and other leaders to BJP, Congress and JJP.
JJP was floated by former Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala in December last year following split in the INLD.
Earlier in the day, when he announced his support to JJP at a press meet in Delhi, Tanwar described the move as a "surgical strike" on his former party, the Congress.
Tanwar grabbed headlines after he protested outside Congress president Sonia Gandhi's residence in Delhi earlier this month over alleged irregularities in ticket distribution. Later, he resigned from the party.
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Tanwar, who was appointed the Haryana Congress chief in 2014, had been at loggerheads with former chief minister and party strongman Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Last month, he was replaced as Congress Haryana unit president by Kumari Selja and Hooda was appointed as state legislature party leader.
Asked if JJP would be okay with his decision to extend support to Abhay Chautala, Tanwar said, "I have not said that I was extending blanket support that I cannot extend support to anyone else. I have not joined them (the JJP).
"I can support anybody. I have to support the Congressmen who struggled with me for five years, if there are any who got the ticket. If there is any good independent candidate in the fray, I will support him too," he said.
At the same time, Tanwar said, his move to extend support to JJP has upset applecart of both the BJP and the Congress.
"Calculations of many have been upset and these have gone for a toss. Those who are talking of '75 paar' (BJP target of winning more than 75 seats), now they are finding that achieving that target will not be possible," he said.