Haryana Poll: Meet the youngest CM candidate, Dushyant Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal

NEW DELHI: The Congress has one, the BJP has many, and now the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has decided to announce its own chief ministerial candidate for Haryana, its 26-year-old MP from Hissar, Dushyant Chautala.

The young MP will be filing nominations from Uchchana Assembly seat, earlier held by his grandfather and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala. The latter is serving a jail sentence after being convicted of irregularities in the recruitment of teachers by the state government. "My grandfather, till the higher court gives him relief, cannot contest these polls, so it was felt that I should do so. I will be filing my nomination papers on Thursday," he told ET.

The vagaries of his grandfather's political career have in fact shaped the Dushyant Chautala's life to a large extent. He was about to leave for the United States for an MBA when his grandfather was convicted in the teacher recruitment case in 2013. The St Lawrence School, Sanawar alumni, who till then was content with boxing and hockey, abandoned his plans for further study and set about trying to retrieve whatever political capital could be salvaged. He toured the state, explained the party's legal position, held youth conferences and generally signalled his arrival on the political scene. In a Modi-led 2014 poll, his party managed 2 out of 10 seats in Haryana, not bad considering that most punters didn't fancy the jailed Chautalas at all.

"People understand the truth, that we were hounded by the Congress and framed," he says.

"They also see that in the last nine years, Bhupinder Singh Hooda has made a state within the state. That every good thing has been done for Rohtak, Deepender Hooda's constituency and nothing for the rest of the state," he said. "Corruption, cronyism, female foeticide and crimes against women are the issues which we have identified as being the worst aspects of Congress rule," he said. His scathing disregard for the Congress has led to speculation that he might tie up with the BJP in a post poll scenario. "These are rumors, because the INLD is poised to win. They want to spread confusion," he adds.

The missed masters degree still rankles though. "After the Vidhan Sabha elections, I intend to apply for an online masters in global management. It requires just a few weeks of on campus study, I think I will be able to manage that," he says.