In Chautala vs Chautala, AAP shows a bias

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has been accused of showing a political bias in the ongoing feud in the Chautala family in Haryana.

The Kejriwal government has allowed Ajay Chautala to come out of Tihar prison on a 21-day furlough right in the middle of the heated up political season before the May 12 polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. The furlough has been allowed unconditionally - including no specified bar on political activity or campaigning.

Ajay Chautala, who along with his estranged father Om Prakash Chautala is serving a 10-year prison term in the JBT (junior basic teacher) recruitment scam since January 2013, is father of Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala.

Dushyant, along with his legislator mother Naina Chautala and younger brother Digvijay Chautala, had floated the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in December last year after a split in the Chautala family and its Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) party.

The Kejriwal government's benevolence towards Ajay Chautala being allowed the furlough is not hard to understand.

The AAP and JJP last week announced an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. The JJP will contest seven seats and AAP three seats.

INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who is the younger brother of Ajay Chautala, has cried foul over the move by the Kejriwal government.

He has pointed out that INLD supremo O.P. Chautala's request for parole was opposed by the Kejriwal government saying that he was seeking it for political purposes. Chautala senior, 84, had sought the parole to attend to his ailing wife.

Abhay has further alleged that the Kejriwal government had earlier also shown its bias in the matter.

"When AAP extended support to JJP in the Jind bypoll in January this year, the Kejriwal government refused the furlough for Chautala (senior) and he was put in jail after taking him away from a hospital in Delhi in the middle of the night. When he was allowed parole, it was on strict condition that will will not participate in political activities or campaign for the INLD," Abhay pointed out.

The Kejriwal government and AAP, which talks of transparency and probity in public life, seems to have a definite bias in dealing with the Chautalas.

--IANS

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