In a no-holds-barred attack on his elder brother Ajay Singh Chautala amid a festering family feud, Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala Wednesday accused him and his two sons of playing into the hands of the BJP and the Congress to weaken the INLD.
Abhay Chautala, 55, launched the attack in a news conference here in which he also announced the expulsion of Ajay Chautala from the INLD's primary membership over his alleged anti-party activities.
Ajay Chautala's two sons - Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala too were expelled from the party earlier.
Abhay Chautala attacked his elder brother for the first time.
I want to ask: 'Have you ever heard Ajay Chautala or any of his family members uttering a single word against opponents Congress and BJP in recent weeks.' Their aim is not to oust the BJP or the Congress from power, but they are playing into their hands which want to weaken and break the INLD," he said.
"But let me tell you every time an attempt has been made to weaken the INLD, it has emerged stronger, he added.
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Abhay Chautala addressed the press conference, flanked by nine of his party MLAs, two MPs, besides state unit president Ashok Arora and other state unit leaders.
Serving a 10-year jail term along with his father and former chief minister O P Chautala in a teachers' recruitment scam in the state, Ajay Chautala, 57, is currently out on a two-week parole.
Hitting out at his elder brother and two nephews, Abhay Chautala said, I was openly called Duryodhana and Jaichand by my elder brother and his family it has caused me a great pain.
"When I met him (Ajay Chautala, over breakfast a few days back), he said I was dear to him. But later, they accused me of weakening the party and insulting workers.
He said he never aspired to become chief minister and had been doing politics for long by confining himself to back benches, but was forced to come forward after his father O P Chautala and brother Ajay Singh were sentenced.
I have discharged my responsibility to the best of my abilities. Inside the Vidhan Sabha, I have been keeping the treasury benches on tenterhooks by raising vital issues concerning the state and its people. When Ajay Chautala and Om Prakash ji were jailed, our opponents including the Congress thought the INLD would split. But with the help of my senior leaders, workers and people's support, I strengthened the party, he said.
He claimed his elder brother had asked his supporters recently in a public meeting in Karnal to make a choice between him and Abhay Chautala.
He told them that they should decide which way they want to go... Dushyant was openly projected as the next chief minister, he said.
He claimed he never saw himself as the party's chief ministerial candidate.
I have never aspired to become chief minister. I am saying I am not in the race for the chief minister's post. My sole aim is to keep the BJP and the Congress out of power," he said.
Claiming that he always worked to strengthen the INLD, he said, "Even in public meetings, the workers who raise slogans in my favour, I tell them to raise slogans in favour of Devi Lal Ji and O P Chautala Ji, because of whom the party is what it is."
"I have always tried to strengthen the party and taken it to a position where it can form government, he added
Asked if he still hoped to avoid a possible split in the party and to reach a patch-up with Ajay Chautala, Abhay Chautala said, "I authorise anyone on my behalf who can do so because there is no grudge from my side. Had it been so, I would have drawn the line 20 years ago."