Malik, aides puppet in Hooda’s hands: Barala

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

State BJP president Subhash Barala today claimed that Jat leader Yashpal Malik and his team did not seem interested in a solution to issues concerning the agitation as they had a different agenda.

Barala called upon members of the Jat community to see through their plans. Talking to The Tribune, he said the state government’s doors were always open for dialogue.

The government had gone out of the way to accommodate demands of the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, he said. Malik and his team showed little interest in finding a solution, he alleged.

“The government has told agitators in clear terms that withdrawal of cases registered by the CBI is not in its domain, but they have adopted a stubborn attitude on this,” he said.

“As far as other cases are concerned, the government has already withdrawn a majority of cases. Except for crimes of heinous nature, the state government is ready to withdraw all others,” said the state BJP president.

Barala urged members of the Jat community to see through the game plan of Malik and his team and dissociate themselves from his agitation.

“They must ponder over the fact that not a single dharna was held in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat when Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the Chief Minister,” Barala pointed out.

“These areas have become the centre of agitation now because Hooda is behind this. His men have been leading the dharnas,” he added.

“Sombir, who had made derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is close to the former Chief Minister,” he claimed.

He alleged that Hooda was frustrated because of criminal cases registered against him and had been trying to defame the government to wriggle out of this situation.

Calling upon protesters to withdraw the agitation in public interest, Barala said the government had already accepted a majority of their demands and a solution to the rest would be found in due course.

The state BJP president hit out at INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala for his proposed SYL canal campaign from tomorrow.

He asked Abhay to tell the people what his father Om Prakash Chautala had done as Chief Minister when the Punjab Government abrogated the water accord during his tenure.