The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) got another jolt on Tuesday with party Vice president Ashok Arora resigning from the primary membership of the party.

Ever since the split in the INLD, many senior leaders, including sitting MLAs, have joined the BJP and there were speculations that Arora may also join it. He, however, always refuted the speculations. Now, there are talks of his meeting with former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been recently given the charge of party’s election management committee in Haryana.

A non-Jat, Punjabi leader with a clean image, Arora failed to woo voters during the 2014 Assembly polls, in which he lost to BJP’s Subhash Sudha by a margin of 25,638 votes from his traditional bastion, Thanesar in Kurukshetra district.

After the worst ever performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Arora, taking the moral responsibility of the loss, had resigned from the post of the state president of the INLD. However, he was later appointed as the national vice-president of the party.

Arora says that he is resigning from the INLD following pressure from his supporters.

“The Assembly elections are around the corner and to decide the strategy for the election, a meeting of party workers and supporters was held. I haven’t met anyone. I will talk to the supporters and go with whatever decision they will take. I will contest from the Thanesar Assembly constituency if they want me to,” he said. Arora said he has worked with the INLD for decades with his blood and sweat but the public has completely disenchanted with the INLD or other regional parties.  Arora hinted that he would join a national party and source indicated that it could be Congress.