A dominant figure of Haryana politics for over five decades, Chautala was born to former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and Harki Devi. He grew up observing his father, a two-time CM and one of the tallest Jat and farmer leaders of Haryana.
It was in 1968 that Chautala fought his first political battle from Ellenabad, which was considered his father’s bastion, on a Janata Party ticket. He, however, lost to Lalchand Khor of Vishal Haryana Party, formed by former CM Rao Birender Singh. Chautala challenged the election in High Court and after about one year, Khor’s election was set aside. A bypoll was conducted and Chautala won the seat, marking his Assembly debut.
Since then, the journey of Chautala — the man with 90% physical disability who couldn’t even “change his clothes on his own”, a plea his lawyers took seeking leniency after he was convicted of corruption years later — not only changed the political dynamics of Haryana but also played a key role in transforming Gurgaon into the Millennium City. It was during Congress’s Bhajan Lal and Chautala’s tenures as CM that Gurgaon underwent a major transformation.
However, Chautala’s political career was punctuated with controversies. On October 22, 1978, a decade after his debut in electoral politics, he was flying back from a convention in Southeast Asia when he was detained at Delhi airport for allegedly carrying a bag containing 48 wrist watches, a charge that hounded him for the rest of his political career. Following this, his father Devi Lal told the media that he was publicly “disowning him”. Both, however, patched up later.
Chautala holds the distinction of being Haryana’s CM for the maximum times but his overall tenure was around six-and-a-half years. The only full term he could complete was from 2000 to 2005.
The roller-coaster journey for Chautala and the INLD, formed by Devi Lal, began from there, eventually landing Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala in Tihar jail on corruption charges in the Junior-Basic-Training (JBT) teachers recruitment scam. Both served a 10-year sentence, and were released only last year.
Congress’s Bhupinder Hooda was the CM in 2013 when Chautala was convicted. The Chautala family had been accusing Hooda and the Congress of hatching a conspiracy that led to the conviction. It was Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala’s late father Shamsher Singh Surjewala’s initial complaint highlighting irregularities in the JBT teachers recruitment that eventually resulted in Chautala’s conviction — the point from where INLD’s decline began.
Chautala’s ascendancy was tied to his father’s rise in national politics. On December 2, 1989, he became the CM for the first time after Devi Lal vacated the chair and went to Parliament.
As he was not an MLA then, Chautala contested the bypoll from Meham. Voting was held on February 27, 1990, but following allegations of booth capturing, the Election Commission ordered repolling in eight booths.
A few days before the repolling, Amir Singh, an Independent candidate, was killed. Subsequent clashes between police and protesters left 10 dead — one of the biggest such incidents in Haryana. The issue snowballed, and was even raised in Parliament, necessitating the resignation of Chautala as CM. He was succeeded by Banarsi Das Gupta.
Amidst all this, Chautala contested another bypoll from Darba Kalan and won. Gupta was promptly removed as CM, barely 51 days after he took charge, and Chautala took over the post for the second time.
With the heat over the Meham episode growing, the then Janata Party Prime Minister V P Singh was said to have conveyed that it would be best for Chautala to step down. Chautala had to quit again in just five days of assuming office. The Janata Dal then named Master Hukam Singh as his successor.
When V P Singh’s government fell on November 7, 1990, and Chandra Shekhar took charge as the Prime Minister, Devi Lal was again appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister.
Four months later, in March 1991, Hukam Singh resigned — believed to be on Devi Lal’s insistence — and Chautala was back as the CM.
But this manoeuvre prompted a defection within his party. A number of his MLAs quit and the Chautala government fell within a fortnight. As Chautala lost support of his MLAs, President’s Rule was imposed in Haryana between April and June 1991.
In the elections that followed, the Congress won, leading to Bhajan Lal becoming the CM.
In the 1996 Haryana polls, Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) leader Bansi Lal formed the government with the BJP’s support. But three years later, the BJP withdrew support and the government fell. By that time, Devi Lal had left the Janata Dal and established the INLD.
Chautala inducted a few HVP MLAs into the INLD fold, and took over as the CM for the fourth time on July 24, 1999.
In the 2000 polls, the INLD got the full majority and Chautala became the CM once again — the only time he got a full five-year term.
On May 27, 2022, a CBI court sentenced Chautala to four years rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case registered in 2006 relating to his tenure as CM. In August 2022, the Delhi High Court, however, suspended his sentence subject to payment of Rs 50 lakh as imposed by the CBI court and execution of a personal bond worth Rs 5 lakh with one surety of like amount.
After his conviction in 2013, the INLD struggled to stay relevant in state politics. The party slipped to 19 seats in the 2014 Assembly polls, when the BJP formed its first government in the state.
In the run-up to the 2019 polls, a family feud resulted in the split of the INLD and the formation of the breakaway JJP by Chautala’s grandson Dushyant Chautala (Ajay Chautala’s son).
The INLD is currently being led by Chautala’s son Abhay Chautala.
The JJP won 10 seats in 2019 and emerged as a kingmaker when the BJP fell short of the majority and had to enter into a post-poll alliance. Dushyant bagged the deputy CM’s post.
In the 2019 polls, the INLD could only retain Abhay Chautala’s Ellenabad seat. Five years later, the INLD got two seats while the JJP drew a blank.
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