Indora was a known critic of the Congress government inside the assembly and used to be at the forefront in attacking the Hooda government.

Along with Indora, M.L. Ranga, former minister in the Chautala government, Bahadur Singh, former MP, and Krishan Chand Karsa, the head of the INLD's intellectual cell, too joined the Congress.

Sampat Singh, who has still not joined the Congress, had lost the Lok Sabha election from Hisar to Bhajan Lal, the former chief minister and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) leader, by a narrow margin of less than 7,000 votes in May this year. He had contested on the INLD ticket.

The reasons for top INLD leaders abandoning the sinking INLD ship are not hard to find. Though the leaders are complaining that they were no longer being heard in the party, the truth is it was always run with a firm grip by the Chautala family.

Chautala himself is the son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, the man who founded the INLD.

The ruling party is all set to keep everyone away from power for the next five years too with the INLD being decimated in the state, the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) having no standing to make it alone and the newly floated HJC of former chief minister Bhajan Lal not being able to dent the Congress.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)