The INLD candidate from Kurukshetra constituency, Arjun Chautala, on Tuesday filed his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
With this, he became the third grandson of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Om Prakash Chautala entering the political arena.
Arjun Chautala is the younger son of INLD leader Abhay Singh Chatuala. OP Chautala’s two grandsons, Dushyant and Digvijay, who had separated from the INLD and floated the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) are contesting from Hisar and Sonepat Lok Sabha seats.
The INLD organised a state-level rally to launch Arjun and ensure huge gathering while he filed his nomination in the presence of entire party leadership.
Donning the traditional Haryanvi dhoti, kurta and jutti, the 27-year-old reached the stage set up at a theme park here and likened his entry into politics to Arjun, the main character of the Mahabharat.
“In Mahabharat, Arjun did not want to fight, but lord Krishna convinced him to fight and win. Similarly, this Arjun was taking care of agricultural farms, but call of duty made him jump into the poll fray at this land of Mahabharat,” Arjun said.
In his first speech as an active politician, he chose his words carefully and did not mention his estranged cousins. Arjun also read a letter written by his grandfather OP Chautala, who is jail in a teachers’ recruitment scam, and said, “My candidature is the decision of my grandfather and he has directed me to serve the people of Kurukshetra.”
{{/usCountry}}In his first speech as an active politician, he chose his words carefully and did not mention his estranged cousins. Arjun also read a letter written by his grandfather OP Chautala, who is jail in a teachers’ recruitment scam, and said, “My candidature is the decision of my grandfather and he has directed me to serve the people of Kurukshetra.”
{{/usCountry}}“This is a big responsibility given to me by the party and my grandfather believes that I am the strongest candidate from this seat. I will follow in the footsteps of late Devi Lal and won’t be disloyal to the party and people,” Arjun said.
‘Lucky my name is Arjun’
He said he is lucky that his name is Arjun, who got to contest his first election from Kurukshetra.
Several banners with a message ‘Tau (Devi Lal) ke lekar sare gunn, Kurukshetra jitne aaya Arjun’ were put up on the rally ground, projecting Arjun as a messenger of the farmers’ leader late Devi Lal. Arjun also visited a couple of religious places before filing his nomination.
Addressing the rally, Abhay Chautala, who is eying about 3.5 lakh votes of Jat community in Kurukshetra constituency, accused the ruling BJP and the Congress of Jat quota violence which claimed 30 lives.
“The BJP government had on several instances tried to damage the social fabric and divide people. The party did not fulfil the promises it made to the people, who were leading the agitation for reservation,” he added.
Abhay claimed that leaders of the BJP and the Congress instigated the peaceful protesters to block road and rail traffic and both the parties were responsible for the violence and arson that took place at several towns of the state.”