New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today (Feb 9, 2004) suffered a setback in Haryana when its key ally, ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) of Chief Minister O P Chautala, snapped ties with the coalition and firmly ruled out any reconsideration.

Blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not observing the "dharma" of coalition politics, Chautala told reporters in Gurgaon that his party would go it alone in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

According to a State Government release, Chautala blamed the BJP leadership's "negative attitude" for the break-up of ties with NDA.

At the same time, he made it clear that his party could not even think of having an alliance with Congress because of ideological differences with that party.

"Our party has always been opposing Congress policies and shall continue to do so in future," he said.