CHANDIGARH: Former minister and six-time MLA Prof. Sampat Singh on Tuesday officially rejoined the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), ending his 16-year association with the Congress, which described as the “Biggest Mistake”.
The 78-year-old veteran, once counted among Tau Devi Lal’s “navratnas”, was inducted into the INLD along with his son Gaurav Sampat Singh in the presence of party national president Abhay Singh Chautala and state chief Rampal Majra. Singh has been appointed the National Patron of the party.
“It was a bad day when I left INLD for Congress. Those 16 years were wasted — a dark detour from the path Tau Devi Lal had shown me,” Singh said at the induction ceremony.
Prof. Sampat Singh, who served as Finance and Home Minister in the Om Prakash Chautala governments, was once a key strategist for INLD during its peak in the 1990s. His political career spanned victories across six assembly elections between 1987 and 2005 from Hisar and Fatehabad districts.
However, after internal friction within the INLD, he had ended his 32 year’s association with the INLD and joined the Congress in 2009 under then-Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Though he won from Nalwa, Singh soon found himself sidelined. Subsequent years brought electoral defeats, including a short-lived stint with the BJP in 2014.
Returning to Congress in 2022 amid farmer protests, he was denied tickets in both the 2019 and 2024 assembly elections. In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Singh wrote: “I served as MLA six times, held cabinet portfolios twice, and once led the Opposition, yet merit was betrayed for money power and family fiefdoms.”
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress leadership, Singh accused Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his coterie of running the party like a family enterprise. He alleged “ticket chori” and “internal sabotage” were responsible for Congress’s poor 2024 performance.
Citing the 2016 Rajya Sabha ‘ink incident,’ Singh claimed votes for a Congress-backed candidate were manipulated to benefit the BJP. “Hooda blessed independents who stole 60,000 votes in Uchana alone,” he charged.
He also accused Congress of failing its Dalit and OBC constituents, citing the sidelining of Kumari Selja and denial of tickets to leaders like Ram Niwas Ghodela. “Congress pays lip service to Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes,” he said, adding that the party’s 37 MLAs have been “invisible” during the recent floods and fertilizer shortages faced by farmers.
“The Congress has become a sinking ship,” Singh remarked. “Have you seen its MLAs on the streets while farmers suffer?”
Congress spokesperson Pardeep Dhingra dismissed the charges as “sour grapes,” saying, “If someone doesn’t get a ticket, they will naturally complain before leaving.”
BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma also took a dig, saying, “Congress today is just a collection of groups, not a political party.”
For the INLD, which was reduced to two MLAs after the 2024 elections, Singh’s return offers both symbolic and strategic value. Abhay Chautala described the move as “an auspicious turning point” coinciding with Guru Purab, and invoked Devi Lal’s legacy of farmer-first politics.
State chief Rampal Majra welcomed Singh back, calling him “one of Tau Devi Lal’s true disciples” and expressing hope that his experience would strengthen the party’s grassroots network.
“My education came under Tau’s guidance,” Singh said. “Now I will help rebuild what I once helped build.”
Analysts say Singh’s return could lend INLD renewed credibility among older Jat voters nostalgic for the Devi Lal era. However, whether the move can translate into tangible political revival remains uncertain.
Singh’s political career has been marked by both acclaim and missed opportunities. After 2009, his shifting affiliations — from INLD to Congress, a brief BJP stint, and now back to INLD — reflect the churn within Haryana’s non-BJP, non-Congress space.
