A political slugfest broke out in Sirsa on Wednesday after Congress district president Santosh Beniwal launched a sharp attack on INLD supremo Abhay Singh Chautala over his remarks on Ellenabad MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal and the Congress leadership.

Addressing the media at the Congress office, Santosh Beniwal questioned Chautala’s criticism of the Congress MLA. Referring to his reported remark that Bharat Singh Beniwal “does not know how to speak”, she asked what Chautala had achieved during his four terms as an MLA and what development he had brought to Ellenabad.

Reacting to Chautala’s statement that he should not be compared with “small leaders”, Beniwal said she was the national vice-president of the Sarpanch Association besides being its state and district president, and had been elected to these posts by the organisation.

She also dismissed Chautala’s claim that no one stood behind her. “If he talks about family support, I will call my people and he can call his. The difference will be clear,” she said.

Taking a swipe at the INLD, Beniwal said the party’s strength had fallen from 80 MLAs to just two because of its leadership’s “arrogance”. She also asked Chautala to account for the development carried out in Ellenabad during the past two decades and questioned his claims about works executed after he ceased to be an MLA.

Claiming that the present Congress MLA had distributed more than Rs 3 crore under the MLA Local Area Development Fund among villages in the constituency, she challenged Chautala to list similar works carried out by the two sitting INLD MLAs.

Beniwal also threw an open challenge to the INLD chief, saying her earlier political target had been to defeat Abhay Chautala, which she claimed was achieved. “My next target is to ensure that the remaining two INLD MLAs also lose the next Assembly elections,” she said.

The remarks came a day after Chautala defended his comments on the Ellenabad MLA, saying criticism only strengthened him politically and asking opponents not to compare him with “small leaders”.