Gurgaon: As the last date for filing nominations in the state nears, the dilemma within the ruling BJP , on whether to form an alliance with Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), increases. It’s now common knowledge that the latter is keen on the alliance. Sources revealed INLD leader Abhay Chautala met Union home minister Rajnath Singh earlier this week.While the central leadership is favourable towards an alliance, the state BJP unit is not enthusiastic.It appears BJP would like to wait and watch, with its decision on alliance subject to the fruition of a possible alliance between AAP and Dushyant Chautala’s INLD-breakaway faction, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). Insiders believe JJP will join hands with AAP in Haryana , in which case AAP’s Naveen Jaihind would be their Gurgaon candidate. Sources revealed JJP has already formed a three-member committee to negotiate with AAP, and that INLD wants their candidates in three seats — Sirsa, Sonipat and Kurukshetra. Notably, BJP doesn’t have strong contenders for these three seats.The Sirsa seat, covering districts of Sirsa, Fatehabad and parts of Jind, is the hometown of the Chautala clan. Parties led or supported by Chaudhary Devi Lal — Janta Party, Janta Dal and INLD — have won this seat 5 times, in 1977, 1988, 1998, 1999 and 2014. The incumbent is INLD’s Charanjit Singh Rori, a loyalist of Devi Lal’s son, O P Chautala.In 2014, BJP won Kurukshetra for the first time. The seat covers districts Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Yamunanagar, and is popular as “pro-business”, with several businessmen getting elected from it, including Congress’s Devdutt Puri (1962), Haryana Vikas Party’s O P Jindal (1996), Congress’s Naveen Jindal (2004 and 2009) and BJP’s Rajkumar Saini (2014). Saini has since formed his own Loktantra Suraksha Party and will contest this year in alliance with BSP.Sonipat covers districts Sonipat and parts of Jind. Here, the incumbent Remesh Kaushik of BJP, had, of late, expressed his desire not to contest in 2019. Although he has now changed his mind, the party is reportedly not keen on fielding him any longer.INLD is also hopeful that party supremo O P Chautala could soon be released from jail, where he has been since 2013, when he and his son Ajay were convicted in the JBT teachers’ appointment scam. The Delhi high court has recently instructed the Delhi government to dispose of Chautala’s petition within four weeks time. The file is pending with Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor. As per law, a convict above 80 years of age, who has served over 50% of his sentence, can seek an early release. At 84, Chautala qualifies for clemency, as he is also 70% physical challenged.He has a strong following in rural areas, especially among farmers who form over 65% of the population and reportedly feel let down by BJP.

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