Kaithal, June 7
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s speech at a rally here today was interrupted by supporters of Mr Birender Singh who were apparently irked by the loud cheering Mr Hooda was receiving from his supporters.
After repeated requests by Congress leader failed to pacify the crowd, Mr Jai Parkash, MLA and convener of the rally, was heard shouting that the people sent by Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Om Prakash Chautala were trying to sabotage the rally. The MLA’s outburst had the desired effect and the two groups of supporters calmed down and Mr Hooda could get on with his address.
Mr Hooda said some Congress leaders who had joined hands on the demand of completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal could break away from the group under “instigation of external forces”. Mr Hooda added that he was not interested in exploiting the canal issue to grab the Chief Minister’s chair. “The MLAs and Ms Sonia Gandhi will decide who will be the Chief Minister in case the Congress gets a majority in the next Assembly elections”, Mr Hooda said.
The rally was organised by the anti-Bhajan section of the Haryana Congress as a run-up to the programme of launching the ‘jalyudh’ (water agitation) in the state, demanding the completion of the SYL canal.
Mr Natwar Singh from the AICC, Mr Birender Singh, member of the Congress party’s Central Election Committee and former HPCC chief, eight Congress MLAs and other leaders of the state took part in the rally.
Mr Birender Singh referred to Mr Hooda as his ‘chhote bhai’ and said that he would mobilise one lakh volunteers for the ‘jalyudh’ being launched under the leadership of Mr Hooda and Rao Inderjit Singh, MLA from the Ahirwal belt. He claimed that the rally was not the show of a particular Congress faction. “We had invited Mr Bhajan Lal also for the rally”, Mr Birender Singh said.
He said the people of the northern districts of the state such as Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Ambala, should unite to assert their political rights. “Though these districts are advanced in terms of agricultural production, they have never had a meaningful political representation”, he said.
Mr Natwar Singh, who witnessed the pandemonium breaking out between supporters of Mr Hooda and Mr Birender Singh, however, did not touch the issue of factionalism in the Congress unit of Haryana when he made his speech. He confined himself to criticising the NDA government over its policy vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Mr Raghbir Singh Kadian, Mr Shadi Lal Batra, Mr Dharam Bir and other Congress MLAs also addressed the gathering. In an obvious reference to the large portraits and banners of Mr Birender Singh dotting the rally site, Mr Kadian said the banners and cutouts did not determine who would be the next Chief
Minister.
