M A I N   N E W S

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE
24 MLAs to join CM’s foreign jaunt
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 6
INLD MLAs in Haryana are facing “interviews” these days. No, they are not seeking jobs. They are being interviewed by the consulate staff of various countries in Delhi for granting them visas. If all goes well, about two dozen INLD MLAs will fly out of the country in the second week of this month.

According to informed sources, these INLD MLAs will join the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, in the USA during the second leg of his proposed foreign tour scheduled to commence from June 9. In the first leg of his foreign tour, Mr Chautala will visit China and Hong Kong. He will be accompanied, among others, by the Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh; his Principal Secretary, Mr M.K. Miglani; the Managing Director of the Haryana State Industries Development Corporation, Dr Harbaksh Singh; and his personal security officer.

Sources say the Chief Minister’s Political Adviser, Mr Sher Singh Badshami, is also scheduled to travel on Mr Chautala’s bandwagon bound for foreign countries. However, it is not known if he will accompany Mr Chautala or will act as a chaperon to the MLAs chosen by the ruling party to visit the USA, Canada and the UK.

The exact number of the INLD MLAs, who finally make it on the foreign bandwagon of Mr Chautala, will be known only after the Embassies grant them visas. Since a number of countries have reduced their consular staff in view of the tension on the Indo-Pak border, the process of grant of visas has become very slow. The Chief Minister is believed to have spoken to a number of Ambassadors to expedite the grant of visas to his party MLAs.

Sources in the INLD say the Chief Minister wants that the MLAs should have an "exposure" of foreign countries so that their outlook widens. Perhaps Mr Chautala has been inspired by his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, Mr Chander Babu Naidu, who also inspired the INLD supremo to form an information technology policy for the state. However, there is one difference. While Mr Naidu sent all the MLAs, irrespective of their political affiliations, to foreign countries, Mr Chautala has bestowed patronage only on his party MLAs.

Sources say the travelling expenditure on each MLA will be around Rs 1 lakh, which will be met out of the travelling allowance allowed to them by the State Assembly per annum.

While the INLD sources say the purpose of the visit is to give an "exposure" to the MLAs, political opponents of Mr Chautala are not so charitable. Mr Karan Singh Dalal, RPI MLA, alleges that Mr Chautala is taking these MLAs along with him to foreign countries because he fears that in his absence "they may go astray". He said it was unfortunate that instead of visiting the agitating farmers, the ruling party MLAs had decided to undertake foreign jaunts “at a time when the people whom they represent are restless.”