Chandigarh, November 15
Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today described the allegations of having amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income levelled in the Congress chargesheet submitted to the Governor yesterday as "vague, baseless and politically motivated".
Talking to newsmen here Mr Chautala threatened that he was seeking legal opinion so that he could file a defamation case against the Congress leaders who had prepared the "memorandum". He did not agree that the document prepared by the Congress was a chargesheet. He said it was merely a memorandum in which the Congress leaders had tried to tarnish his political image. He said the chargesheet could be framed only in a court. He said the Congress was trying to find an election issue because the party had nothing to offer to the people in the next elections.
Mr Chautala said the Congress leaders had tried to show in the memorandum as if he had indulged in corrupt practices to amass wealth. In the 123-page memorandum the Congress had attached newspaper clippings, besides a few photographs after the first 90 pages. They had devoted four pages in advising the Governor what he should do with the memorandum and dismiss the popularly elected government. He said it was not possible to dismiss a popularly elected government in democracy. While doing so the Congress leaders forgot that the Governor was a learned personality and had already held several high offices.
Mr Chautala said the Congress leaders had tried to project that he had been sheltering criminals. As a Chief Minister he met hundreds of people every day. He was not supposed to be aware of their antecedents. Referring to the allegation about the premature release of convicts, he said the Governor approved their release on the recommendations of a committee. "If the Governor approves some thing, I am held responsible for that. And if the Governor sits over the Bills passed by the legislature, still I am blamed for it," he said sarcastically in an obvious reference to the Governor not giving his assent to the three Bills aimed at pre-poning the panchayat and municipal elections in the state.
He said he was astonished to see that they had mentioned even those properties, which did not belong to him. He said even a statue of Mr Devi Lal installed in Panipat as his property. Similarly properties of various charitable trusts had been shown as his personal assets. Going by this argument, even the Haryana Agricultural University and the Rohtak PGI should be considered as personal properties of the families of Mr Charan Singh, former Prime Minister, and Mr Bhagwat Dayal Sharma, former Haryana Chief Minister, because these institutions were named after these leaders. The trusts had been formed for the welfare of the masses. He pointed out that the Nehru family too had similar trusts. Could this be the personal property of that family?, he asked.
Mr Chautala made an offer to the Congress leaders to take away 90 per cent of the property as mentioned in the memorandum and give him only 10 per cent of it. However, he clarified that this offer was only in regard to what was described as his personal property and not of his family members. He said his sons had already disclosed their assets in writing at the time of contesting elections.
He said the Congress had exaggerated the value of his properties manifold. Even the offices of the INLD had been shown as his property. He alleged that the former Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had collected Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 65 lakh during a padyatra, which he did not deposit in the party funds.
He said he had introduced transparency in the auction of mines. He said because his government did not allow any irregularity in the mining, one of his Cabinet Ministers, who was also in the business of mining, quit his Ministry.
He said while during the tenure of previous governments, they used to make purchases worth crores of rupees by inviting tenders only whereas his Government had made this system transparent. He himself and the Finance Minister, Mr Sampat Singh, held negotiations with private parties at meetings of the high-power purchase committee to reduce the prices.
Mr Chautala alleged that the chargesheet had been prepared by the Congress because its government at the Centre had failed to deliver the goods during the past six months. He also said the Congress wanted to cover up its failure on the SYL canal.
While referring to the statements being made by the Congress leaders on the proposals of the Delimitation Commission, Mr Chautala said he was always of the view that it had not been constituted properly.
When asked to comment on bank statements of the Choudhary Devi Lal Memorial Trusts showing transactions of over Rs 20,000 in cash, attached to the memorandum, Mr Chautala said Mr Devi Lal was held in high esteem by the people who gave cash donations, which were being deposited in the banks.
When asked to comment on the Congress allegation that he had not deposited a gold brick received by him at a Kaithal function in the public exchequer when its value exceeded Rs 5,000, Mr Chautala said the Congress memorandum had not said that the brick was made of gold. "It says golden brick (Sunehri)," he said.
