INLD legislator Ranbir Gangwa joins BJP in presence of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

In a big setback to the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ahead of ensuing Lok Sabha Elections, senior party leader and sitting MLA Ranbir Gangwa joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday. Gangwa joined the BJP in presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other leaders in the national capital.

This is the second big exit from INLD. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA from Narwana, Pirthi Singh ‘Nambardar’ had joined the newly formed Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) led by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala. 

Meanwhile, the Indian National Lok Dal has formed its new student wing ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala had unveiled the banner and logo of the INLD Students' Organisation (ISO), and addressed the youth wing of the party.

Rambir Singh Badala was appointed as the state president of ISO and Arjun Chautala, son of Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala, was made the national in-charge of the student wing.

"Om Prakash Chautala also expressed satisfaction over the hard work that the party workers had invested in strengthening the party and said that he himself has been a worker and hence knew that they were the backbone of any organisation," the release said.

In October last year, Om Prakash Chautala had dissolved the INLD's student wing Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) as well as the party's youth wing as these were allegedly found to be lacking in discipline and commitment to the ideals of the party.

However, later on, his grandson Digvijay Chautala had claimed that the INLD president could not dissolve INSO as only its patron Ajay Chautala had the power to do so.

Om Prakash Chautala (84), was released on three-week furlough from Tihar Jail in Delhi last week. He along with his elder son Ajay Chautala is undergoing a jail term after their conviction in the teachers' recruitment scam in Haryana.