Rohtak, Sept. 26 -- When Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) national president Abhay Singh Chautala on Thursday hit out at the Congress and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for lending a helping hand to the BJP to form two successive governments in the state in 2024 and 2019, he was trying to touch a raw nerve in the Jat heartland, regarded as a bastion of Congress leader, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Invoking the legacy of his grandfather and peasant leader, former deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, the public gathering to mark Devi Lal's 112th birth, was seen as a litmus test for Abhay Singh's ability to reclaim party's lost ground and project himself as the inheritor of the Chautala dynasty. This was particularly significant in view of the le...