'Opposition's Role Is To Seek Answers': INLD's "Walkout" Swipe At Congress

Even while sharing the opposition benches with the Congress in the Haryana Legislative Assembly, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) did not miss an opportunity to take a sharp dig at the grand old party for repeatedly resorting to walkouts instead of sustained debate. INLD MLA Arjun Chautala on Monday "held fort" in the Assembly and questioned the Congress strategy, asserting that opposition politics should be about accountability, not theatrics.

On the last day of the winter session, a privilege motion moved by BJP MLA Shakti Rani Sharma against Congress MLA Indu Raj Narwal triggered a walkout by Congress legislators after the Speaker approved the motion. While former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda opposed the motion, Arjun Chautala also stood up to register his views, underlining that opposition members must confront the government inside the House. Taking a swipe at the Congress, Chautala remarked that walkouts do little to serve public interest. "We don't need walkouts; we need answers to questions about the government's failures and corruption," he said, stressing that the opposition's role is to seek answers on failures and corruption, not abandon proceedings.

He further recalled that this was not the first instance of such conduct, pointing to an earlier no-confidence motion brought by the Congress that was defeated, following which Congress MLAs staged a walkout over issues like law and order, farmers' demands for a legal MSP, and poor road conditions.

In a separate but equally pointed attack, Arjun Chautala targeted the Congress over the issue of "vote chori" (vote theft). He alleged that the Congress would never support electoral reforms because, according to him, the roots of vote theft lie with the party itself. He cited past instances, including the Rajya Sabha "ink episode" that helped a BJP-backed candidate win, and historical allegations involving the defeat of Chaudhary Devi Lal. Referring to questions raised over his own election, Chautala said he willingly underwent VVPAT verification despite being the winning candidate, while alleging that the Congress candidate who raised objections was conspicuously absent.

Through these remarks, the INLD made it clear that opposition unity does not mean unquestioned alignment and that it will continue to call out the Congress when it believes the party falls short of responsible opposition politics.