Big names do not matter, people want performance: Ajay Chautala

With youth comprising majority of India's population, Jannayak Janata Party patron Ajay Chautala said Friday that there has been a paradigm shift in the thinking of people for whom big names do not matter, but performance, sincerity and honesty of candidates certainly do.

"India is a country where majority of the voters are youths. There is a change in how voters think today. They are willing to give chance to young and new faces, electors want candidates who are educated, who can perform, are honest, hard-working and sincere," he said.

Ajay Chautala's two sons are contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Haryana. His elder son Dushyant Chautala is seeking re-election for the second term from Hisar while younger son Digvijay Chautala has entered the contest from Sonipat.

Dushyant Chautala is pitted against greenhorns Bhavya Bishnoi, son of senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi and Union minister Birender Singh's bureaucrat-turned-politician son Brijendra Singh.

Digvijay Chautala is up against BJP's sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik and Congress stalwart and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Ajay Chautala said that in the Jind bypolls held earlier this year, people have shown that just being a stalwart is not enough.

"In the Jind bypolls, you saw the fate which Congress candidate (Randeep Singh Surjewala) met, he was barely able to save his security deposit. In these bypolls, Digivjay (of the JJP), who was contesting his first election, came at second spot putting up an impressive performance," Ajay Chautala told PTI.

The BJP registered victory in the Jind bypolls, which were necessitated by the demise of INLD's Hari Chand Middha last year. His son Krishan Middha, who joined the BJP earlier this year, won the seat.

With Haryana's 10 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the sixth phase on May 12, the JJP has fielded its candidates on seven seats while its ally the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on remaining three.

"The JJP and the AAP are fighting for a change, a change which is for the better," he said.

He claimed that people will reject the BJP in the polls as they made only "tall promises", but failed to fulfil them.

Ajay Chautala claimed that the Lok Sabha polls are like a "semi-final" before the Vidhan Sabha polls in Haryana, which are due in October this year.

"Our agenda is to take Haryana forward. Even in the Lok Sabha polls, you must have seen that we have fielded educated people with clean image. We are hopeful that with people's support we will bring about a positive change," he said.

The JJP was launched by Dushyant Chautala last year after a split in the INLD following a feud in the Chautala family.

Ajay Chautala, who is serving a jail term in a teachers recruitment scam in Haryana, is currently out on furlough.