M A I N   N E W S

BJP ‘nod’ for 35 seats
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 18 — The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the BJP, which met in Delhi today, has reportedly “approved” the stand of the Haryana unit of the party to contest 35 assembly seats in alliance with the ruling INLD of Mr Om Prakash Chautala in the State.

According to the general secretary (organisation) of the Haryana BJP, Mr Manohar Lal Khattar, the CEC met six party leaders from Haryana — Mr Om Prakash Grover, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, Mr Om Prakash Dhankhar, Mr Kailash Sharma, Mr Sita Ram Singla and Mr Khattar himself — to ascertain their views on the possible alliance between the two parties.

The Haryana BJP leaders told the CEC that Mr Chautala had agreed at a meeting with the General Secretary in charge of Haryana, Mr Narendra Modi, in December last that the INLD would leave 35 seats for the BJP while it would contest on 55 seats. However, the INLD chief, they said, was trying to back out of the agreement.

Mr Modi was also present at the CEC meeting.

After hearing the Haryana leaders, Mr Khattar told TNS, the CEC decided that the BJP should not contest on less than 35 seats. Informed sources say a member suggested that in the interest of the INLD-BJP ties, there was no harm if the BJP agreed to leave a couple of seats out of the 35 it was demanding.

The sources say the CEC, where the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, was also present, did not agree with the suggestion.

The party President, Mr Kushabhau Thakre, who presided over the meeting of the CEC, will now either authorise somebody to talk to Mr Chautala or he himself would do some plain speaking with the INLD leader.

However, unconfirmed reports say that the CEC authorised Mr Vajpayee to resolve the dispute over seat-sharing with the INLD.

Ravi S. Singh adds from Gurgaon: Mr Chautala, according to reliable sources, met Mr Vajpayee yesterday and urged him to get over the impasse. For the first time, Mr Chautala is said to have told Mr Vajpayee that the BJP did not deserve more than 25 seats.

At the meeting, which lasted for about half an hour, Mr Chautala told Mr Vajpayee that the experience of the INLD-BJP alliance in the last Lok Sabha election was pleasant. He wished to continue with the experiment. He said his main aim was to trounce the Congress.

He also expressed his anguish saying that while the Congress was setting its house in order in Haryana, a section of the BJP was working with a negative mindset.

According to sources, Mr Chautala is learnt to have pointed out that such a situation can affect poll results in the entire country. Significantly, Mr Chautala’s argument that only winning candidates should be given tickets makes sense in view of his prognosis of the post-Assembly election situation and the bogey of the Congress’s revival.

However, even though the INLD and the BJP may settle the dispute on the seat sharing, they have to sink their differences over six seats, including Gurgaon, Rajound, Palwal and Jind.

The state BJP heavyweight, Mr Sitaram Singla, has been contesting from Gurgaon. On the other hand, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, the president of the district Gurgaon unit of the INLD and confidant of Mr Chautala has been angling for a ticket.

The two parties are firm on their stands over the Palwal seat in Faridabad district. A former minister and one-time heavyweight of the HVP, Mr Karan Dalal, joined the BJP after the split in the HVP, leading to the fall of the Bansi Lal Government. Mr Karan Dalal is considered to be a polular leader, especially among the youths. The BJP leaders are of the firm view that Mr Dalal, an MLA from Palwal, in the last Assembly had almost single handedly managed the election campaign of the party nominee for the last Lok Sabha election from the Faridabad constituency. Also, he is from the Jat community, which the BJP would like to win over in the near future.

However, Mr Chautala is firmly opposed to giving the seat to the BJP. There are many who feel that more than getting the Palwal seat for the INLD, he was against the candidature of Mr Dalal. Also, a former minister Mr Subash Katyal, a prominent Punjabi leader in the INLD, wants a ticket from Palwal. Mr Katyal had once represented the Palwal seat. The INLD has been working hard to dispel the image that it was in favour of a particular community after the party came in power.

On the Rajound seat there are wish that the leader of the BJP in the dissolved Assembly, Prof Ram Bilas Sharma, wants to shift from Mahendragarh to Rajound.