Chandigarh, November 10
The Haryana Congress reached the half-way mark in a House of 90 after one more MLA of the Haryana Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi joined the party today.

Dharam Singh Chhokkar, MLA from Samalakha in Panipat district, had sent a fax message to Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha last evening that he agreed with the decision taken by his four colleagues to “merge” with the Congress and he also be considered as member of the Congress.

Today he appeared before Chatha and assured him that he had decided to “merge” with the Congress out of his own free will. Thereafter, the Speaker approved the “merger”. Before that, Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in his capacity as leader of the Congress Legislature Party, told Chatha that they accepted the “merger”.

Chhokkar is the fifth HJC legislator to join the Congress. Four HJC MLAs had joined the ruling party yesterday. Now Kuldeep Bishnoi alone represents the HJC in the assembly.

Chatha said : "Chhokkar had sent me a message yesterday expressing his desire to join the Congress. However, he could not reach Chandigarh yesterday on time. I have accepted his plea and now he is a member of the Congress." The Congress with the help of seven Independents,the lone BSP MLA and the “merger” of five HJC legislators is now in a relatively comfortable position with a strength of 45. One seat is vacant following the resignation of Om Prakash Chautala from Ellenabad. He retains the Uchana Kalan seat.

Chandigarh, November 10
With all his five MLAs deserting him, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi stands a lone man. Just the way he started out a couple of years back when he decided to part ways with the Congress and float his own political outfit in December 2007.

He is, however, not willing to go down without a fight, despite the “Congress coup”. Bishnoi who spent the day consulting legal eagles on the options available to him, said the membership of all five legislators should be set aside.

“We will approach the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha and file an appeal in the High Court,” he said, speaking on the phone from Delhi, adding that the legislators seek a fresh mandate if they wanted to be with the Congress. “I will hold a meeting with senior leaders of my party tomorrow and decide the future course of action. This is unethical and it seems to be a tradition with the Congress to ‘buy’ MLAs.

“I admit that the people of the five constituencies who had sent back MLAs of the HJC to the House have been betrayed and I apologise for fielding such candidates,” he maintained. Alleging horse trade, Bishnoi said he had played clean politics and resisted the temptation of plum positions. “I cannot betray the people who have reposed faith in me ,” he said. Apprehending such a move by the Congress which had already “managed to win” the support of the Independents and rewarded them liberally, Bishnoi, had said that the MLAs were free to join the Congress if their conscience allowed him so.

On October 28 when the trust vote was held, the six MLAs of the HJC had arrived together for the first session of the assembly. However, a wait of 12 days proved too long for Bishnoi’s men who eventually took the Congress bait and left the HJC.

Hisar, November 10
Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Sampat Singh said today that his party had “cleansed and altered politics” in Haryana forever by providing a stable government to the people without indulging in “dirty politics and horse trade”.

In a statement here, he said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had rid Haryana of “Aya Rams and Gaya Rams” by proving majority in the House within hours of being sworn.

He said the Congress had been given the mandate to form the government and respecting the people’s mandate, it had “taken in its fold elected representatives who believed in the party’s political philosophy”. Referring to criticism by Opposition parties to the support extended by Independent MLAs, he said all legislators, including independents, “were elected representatives. They have been mandated to fulfill the aspirations of the people of their area. Thus, their decision to support the Hooda government unconditionally is wholly democratic”.

Likewise, he said the decision of Haryana Janhit Congress legislators to join the Congress was unconditional. These legislators had acted democratically and had foiled all attempts by Kuldeep Bishnoi to use them as pawns to broker a political deal for himself. Sampat Singh, who represents Nalwa, said at times the political leadership had to take decisions in the larger interests of the state.

“There have been times when even non-legislators have been elevated to the post of CM in the interest of the people”. In the past Hooda and INLD’s Om Parkash Chautala had been sworn in as CMs before they were elected to the assembly. Thus, the Congress had done “nothing unethical or undemocratic by consolidating the party to provide a stable government”.

Sirsa: “If Bhajan Lal was PhD in Haryana politics, his son Kuldeep Bishnoi has woefully failed to pass the LKG of the power game,” commented a senior leader, a longtime associate of former former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, on all the five HJC legislators deserting their supremo to join the Congress.

While four have already joined the ruling party, Samalkha MLA Dharm Singh has expressed his desire to do so. Supporters of Bishnoi in Sirsa and other parts of Haryana are in low spirits and feel this may well be the end of the road for their leader. Political leaders, who have seen Bhajan Lal deal with difficult situations with dexterity, say Bishnoi has proved himself a political novice.

“First, he could not maintain the tempo of the response he got at his first rally at Rohtak, then he showed immaturity while dealing with parties like the BJP and the BSP and failed to make allies and now he has been left all by himself,” said a senior leader. “The MLAs who deserted Kuldeep have done an act of treachery but at the same time our leader has not shown the kind of maturity that was needed Yet we will try to revive the party ,” said leader.

Jind, November 10
The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Ghasi Ram faction) of Haryana has served an ultimatum of three days upon the district administration to either release three activists of the union or they would begin agitation.

The announcement came after a meeting of senior party leaders chaired by veteran farmer leader Ghasi Ram Nain at Shahpur village in the district today.

Three farmers had been ‘arrested’ by the police on November 3 in connection with a violent incident, which had damaged a 32-KV transformer.

The farmers’ body had been claiming that none of its members, including those who were arrested by the police on some other pretext recently, were involved in any violence or damage to any public property as alleged by the officials concerned.

The BKU held a meeting at Shah pur village of the district from which all three persons hail and condemned the police action and sought their immediate release.

The arrested persons identified as Mange Ram, Kapura and Kuldeep were invited by the police at the Alewa police post and were arrested and sent to custody on various charges, it is claimed.

However, according to police sources, the arrested persons had been allegedly involved in a violent incident in which villagers had attacked a power substation and had damaged the property, including a transformer a few months back.

They had done so in protest against short supply of power in the village.

Mange Ram has been the press secretary of the union.

“ The union representatives have already put up their appeal before the Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police at separate meetings.

“Despite this, the administration has failed to release the BKU activists who are innocent and there is no justification whatsoever in keeping them behind the bars”, the union claimed.

The meeting also resolved to announce an agitation soon if the authorities did not meet their demand within three days, a spokesperson said today.

A confrontation between the authorities and the farmers has been brewing for quite some time now.

Bhondsi, November 10
Dalip Singh Rana, alias Khali, who rose from a roadside stone-cutter in Himachal Pradesh to an internationally acclaimed bodybuilder, powerlifter, world heavyweight wrestling champion and Hollywood movie actor, was honoured at a ceremony held at the Recruits Training Centre-cum-Indian Reserve battalion (IRB) headquarters here today.

Addressing a gathering comprising schoolchildren, police recruits and mediapersons, IGP (IRB) Sheel Madhur exhorted the youth to draw inspiration from Khali’s phenomenal success achieved by virtue of hardwork and firm determination. Madhur said the motive behind inviting Khali was twofold: To salute the dedicated efforts put in by him to bring laurels to the country and to motivate the schoolchildren and police recruits.

Later, Khali, who stands at a towering 7 ft, mingled with children, signed autographs and advised them never to lose sight of their goals. “There is no short-cut to success,” he said, adding that one could make a mark in life by fixing a high goal and making concerted efforts to achieve it.

Responding to a query by children, Khali said he works out for three hours daily.

Khali, the first Indian professional wrestler to be signed by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), had shot to fame by defeating “The Undertaker”.

Ambala, November 10
A deputation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Takkar), Haryana, met CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Chandigarh today and demanded a separate SGPC in the state at the earliest.

State president Kartar Singh Takkar said here today that senior leaders of the Dal, including Harpal Singh Pali, Ranbir Singh Fauji and Piyara Singh Layalpuria, were part of the deputation.

He said he had requested the CM to take the party into confidence while forming the state SGPC. His party had offered support to Congress candidates in the assembly elections and opposed leaders of the Parkash Singh-led Shiromani Akali Dal. “The CM should recognise our efforts,” he said.

He said despite intensive campaigning by Badal and his son, their candidate had faced defeat in Ambala City. He said his workers had actively campaigned for Congress candidate Venod Sharma. On SYL, he said his party stand was clear- that Haryana must get its share.