Jhajjar, May 17
Giving credence to speculation that the BJP-HJC alliance will end before the Assembly poll, Om Prakash Dhankar, BJP Kisan Morcha national president, today said the party would reconsider its coalition with the HJC keeping in view the ground reality and the political situation after the General Election results.

Dhankar was interacting with mediapersons after thanking party workers for their support.

“Political equations change after every election. A change is being witnessed in Haryana and the party will reconsider its alliance with the HJC to chalk out the strategy for the Assembly elections.”

Asked about representation of Haryana in Narendra Modi Cabinet, Dhankar said, “This is the prerogative of the Prime Minister, but we are hopeful that Modi will ensure representation of Haryana in his Cabinet.”

Replying to a question regarding implementation of the BJP poll manifesto, especially farmer-related issues, he said recommendations of Swaminathan Commission would be executed on a priority basis as farmers had eagerly been waiting for that.

“Since Modi has advocated 50 per cent share of farmers in agricultural profit, I do not think there is any problem in executing recommendations of Swaminathan Commission for the welfare of farmers,” said Dhankar. He added that he would try to get the recommendations implemented.

Giving reasons for his defeat from Rohtak, the BJP leader said contrary to other candidates, he was contesting the election against the state government.

He said he was satisfied that he had got a big chunk of total votes polled and the margin of loss had been reduced considerably.

Chandigarh, May 17
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had pinned hopes on the neighbouring Haryana after its stupendous success in the Delhi Assembly elections, has failed to transcend the caste-barrier in its convener Arvind Kejriwal’s home state.

With the Modi wave sweeping the state, the debutant AAP’s miserable performance in all 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Gurgaon, from where its senior leader Yogendra Yadav was the candidate, portends ill for the party in the run-up to state Assembly elections later this year.

What is worrying for AAP is the fact that the voters seemed to have rejected its twin poll plank of corruption and dynastic politics.

Even the intensive campaign by Kejriwal and Yogendra Yadav on these twin issues failed to cut ice with the voters with the party polling just over 4 per cent votes in the state.

In fact, the wrong choice of candidates and lack of organisational structure proved dear to the party which failed to get its act together in the Lok Sabha poll. Though the party cadre from Haryana did a yeoman’s service in the Delhi Assembly elections, in Haryana, the party clearly fought with its back to the wall against the Modi wave and caste-ridden politics.

However, party leaders claimed that though the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections had not been impressive, particularly when compared to the neighbouring Punjab, yet the party still had a few months to gear up for the State Assembly elections.

Chandigarh, May 17
It was the BJP all the way in Haryana, with the party leading in 50 of the 90 Assembly segments compared to seven in the General Election in 2009. While the Congress tally fell from 51 in 2009 to 17, the INLD improved its tally from six to 16. The HJC led in seven segments compared to nine in 2009.

The BSP, which led in eight Assembly segments in 2009, failed to lead in any. The BJP and the INLD had contested five seats each as alliance partners in 2009.

The BJP led in all nine Assembly segments in the Ambala, Karnal and Faridabad Lok Sabha seats. The Congress did this feat in Rohtak. While the BJP maintained its lead in six Assembly segments in Kurukshetra, the Congress led in two and the INLD in one. In Sirsa, the INLD led in seven segments and the Congress and the HJC in one each.

Though the HJC led in six segments in Hisar, its chief Kuldeep Bishnoi lost to Dushyant Chautala of the INLD, who led only in three segments. In Sonepat, the BJP led in five Assembly segments, followed by the Congress (3) and the INLD (1).

In Bhiwani, Dharambir Singh of the BJP led in six Assembly segments, with the Congress leading in two and the INLD in one. In Gurgaon, Rao Inderjit Singh of the BJP led in six segments, followed by the INLD in three.

Sirsa, May 17
After the rout of Kuldeep Bishnoi’s HJC, there is a demand within the BJP to go it alone in the Assembly poll. Bishnoi’s defeat at the hands of Dushyant Chautala is the biggest setback for the alliance. The BJP won seven of the eight seats it contested while the HJC lost both.

“After it became clear that the HJC stood no chance of winning in Sirsa and Bishnoi was not in a comfortable position in Hisar, the BJP cadre started saying it should go it alone in the Assembly poll if it performed well,” said a BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

He said the final call would be taken by the central leadership, but a majority of BJP workers believed that there was no better opportunity for the party to spread its wings in Haryana as Assembly elections would be contested during the initial period of Narendra Modi government.

“Our workers believe that the results can prove to be a platform for the party in the state,” he said. He added that workers were of the view that it would be worthwhile to contest the Assembly poll alone and opt for a post-poll alliance if required.

A section of the BJP was wary of this. Another BJP leader said contesting Assembly elections with full strength could annihilate the Congress. Giving the Congress a chance of multi-cornered contests could provide it a new lease of life, he added.

Chandigarh, May 17
The divide in the state Congress unit after the Lok Sabha results has grown more pronounced than before with the “detractor camp” squarely blaming the party’s sitting MLAs for its failure. The leadership has already started working on a “rejuvenation plan” to prepare the cadre for the coming Assembly elections.

Sources said while the candidates were independently approaching the party high command and seeking action against those who indulged in anti-party activity, a revamp of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) is on the cards.

Sources said a final call on the future course of action would be taken in consultation with Delhi sometime next week. While a few party leaders are of the opinion that even before the revamp, the leadership should deal with anti-party complaints against senior leaders, especially sitting MLAs, who worked against the party to settle personal scores to send out the message that indiscipline will no longer be tolerated.

As is true of the Congress, the house is divided on this too. Another camp feels that since the Lok Sabha election results cannot be undone, the party should recommit itself to working with renewed vigour for the Assembly elections and get down to business immediately.

Sources said state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar had decided that building up the party structure would be priority.

Sources said the party wanted to revive all cells of the state Congress, allocate responsibility and accommodate as many leaders as it could to give a sense of involvement to the grass root workers.

“The PCC will be revamped in a manner that it is a blend of experience and youth and members of all areas are adequately represented. So far, the entire responsibility was concentrated in the hands of a few who were all over the place while there were others who felt left out. This inequality will end. Also, we want a PCC which has a substantial number of non-contesting leaders who can devote time to the party at the crucial time of the elections. Presently, the entire PCC vanishes as soon as elections are announced and no senior is around to manage the backroom,” said a senior leader.

However, insiders feel that a strong message should be sent out to all those who take party work lightly as was evident in the parliamentary elections. “All complaints against leaders have fallen on deaf ears in the previous elections. The Congressmen are assured that they will get away with impunity that is why they behave the way they do. If the party wants to be in the contest, it has to get its act together,” a senior party leader maintained.

Tanwar said the party plans a meeting of the state leadership to analyse what went so drastically wrong. “We will take a few steps to build up the party. Immediately, we are gearing up for a district sammelan of workers which will be launched from May 27, the death anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” he said.

Bhiwani, May 17
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dharambir Singh has become the first leader in the state to defeat three generations of one of the prominent political families of the state in electoral battle.

By defeating Shruti Choudhry in the Lok Sabha elections, he has achieved the distinction of defeating third generation of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal. Born to Surender Singh, Shruti is the granddaughter of Bansi Lal.

Dharambir, who is considered to be an arch-rival of Bansi Lal clan, has defeated Bansi Lal and his son Surender Singh in the Assembly elections held in 1987 and 2000, respectively.

However, the 1987 elections were set aside by the court and later, Dharambir was unseated. Dharambir contested the elections on the Lok Dal ticket and polled 32,547 votes, while Bansi Lal got 30,361 votes.

Dharambir has so far contested three Lok Sabha and four Assembly electons against the Bansi Lal’s clan in 27 years wherein he managed to win two Assembly and one Lok Sabha elections.

After 1987, both the leaders were again pitted against each other in the Lok Sabha polls in 1989. This time, Bansi Lal registered a marvelous win over Dharambir from Bhiwani. Bansi Lal obtained 3,57,625 and Dharambir managed 2,00,295 votes.

In the 1991Assembly polls, Dharambir lost the elections from Tosham again to Bansi Lal who defeated him by 12,765 votes.

Notwithstanding two defeats in a row, Dharambir contested another election against Bansi Lal from Tosham in the Assembly polls in 1996 but failed to change the outcome.

In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, Dharambir contested against Surender Singh, son of Bansi Lal, from Bhiwani on the Congress ticket but none of them succeeded to win. INLD candidate Ajay Chautala won the seat.

After a wait for 13 years, Dharambir tasted the victory in the Assembly polls in 2000 when he defeated Surender Singh with a margin of 20,797 votes from Tosham.

Then, he successfully contested his next two Assembly elections from Badhra (Bhiwani) in 2005 and Sohna (Gurgaon) in 2009 on the Congress ticket.

A tale of glory Dharambir, who is considered to be an arch-rival of Bansi Lal clan, had defeated Bansi Lal and his son Surender Singh in the Assembly elections held in 1987 and 2000, respectively He has, so far, contested three Lok Sabha and four Assembly electons against the Bansi Lal clan in 27 years, wherein he managed to win two Assembly and one Lok Sabha elections.

Sirsa, May 17
State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar today exhorted party workers to come out of the grief of his defeat and start preparing for the Assembly polls. Tanwar was speaking to his supporters who came to his residence to express solidarity with him after his defeat.

Hundreds of workers from across the Sirsa parliamentary constituency visited Tanwar’s Sector-20 residence in Sirsa after the results were announced.

Tanwar said: “Victory and defeat are the two sides of a coin in electoral politics and there is no use mourning over the loss.”

Thanking people for casting votes in his favour in the Lok Sabha elections, Tanwar said his priority would be to coordinate between the state government and the party so that the Congress could go to Assembly polls with its best foot forward.

He was confidence that the Assembly poll results would be entirely different from parliamentary polls and the Congress would form a government in Haryana for a third consecutive term. 

Hisar, May 17
The police have registered a case against Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supporters for assaulting Congress supporters in Harita village of the district last night.

Sources said INLD supporters, including Amit, Sanjiv, Saurabh and others, who were dancing to celebrate the victory of INLD’s Dushyant Chautala in the Lok Sabha elections, created a ruckus in front of the house of Subhash, a Congress supporter.

At 2 am, when Subhash objected to the high volume of the disc jockey, the INLD supporters reportedly assaulted Subhash, his brother Ashok and their parents who were later admitted to the civil hospital.

However, the assailants, too, lodged a counter-complaint and got themselves admitted to the civil hospital. In the hospital, the INLD supporters reportedly again assaulted the injured.

A police spokesperson said the INLD supporters had been booked on the complaint of the injured Congress supporters.

He said preliminary inquiry had found that the complaint lodged by the INLD supporters was baseless.

He said investigations were on and the accused would be arrested soon.

Chandigarh, May 17
Two months after Rakesh Malik, a Tosham-based BJP leader, was shot at in his office in Bhiwani by two motorcycle-borne youths, the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday issued notices to Haryana, minister Kiran Choudhry and other respondents.

The notice came on a petition filed by the victim’s wife, Anita Malik, for a CBI probe. Taking up the plea, Justice Surinder Gupta fixed August 8 as the next date of hearing.

In the petition, she had pointed fingers at Choudhry and others while expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation of the state police.

Malik, who also headed the beopar mandal, had recently joined the BJP after quitting the Congress. Malik had returned after campaigning for party at his Tosham-based office where the two youths fired at him.

Uchana (Jind), May 17
“Jat ko jisne bhi lalkara hai, vo to hara hi hara hai (Whoever has challenged the Jats has faced the defeat).” This is what the dancing Nirbhai Singh, an INLD supporter from Uchana, said when asked about the reasons behind the defeat of HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi from Hisar.

The Uchana Assembly constituency is represented by Om Parkash Chautala. For many it was just the MP elections, but for thousands of die-hard INLD loyalists from Uchana, it was a hope that they would soon see OP Chautala as the CM of the state.

The huge support that the Chautalas enjoys in the town can be gauged from the fact that many locals have put up steel plates proclaiming ‘I am a Jat, I am for INLD’ on their vehicles. The party flag on the roofs of houses and shops is a common sight in the constituency.

Senior citizens of the town opined that the strong sympathy wave for the Chautalas, coupled with the Jat vs non-Jat politics being played by Bishnoi, led to the victory of Dushyant Chautala.

“Bishnoi should have tried to win over the Jat votes to counter the influence of the Chautalas, but he distanced himself from the Jat voters by playing the non-Jat card,” said Niranjan Sharma, a resident.

What went wrong for Bishnoi
INLD supporters in Uchana opine that the strong sympathy wave for the Chautalas, coupled with the Jat vs non-Jat politics being played by Bishnoi, led to the victory of Dushyant Chautala. They say Bishnoi should have tried to win over the Jat votes to counter the influence of the Chautalas instead of distancing himself from the Jat voters by playing the non-Jat card.

Hisar, May 17
Breaking silence for the first time after the HJC suffered the poll debacle at both the Lok Sabha seats, party MLA from Adampur and wife of party supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi Renuka Bishnoi alleged that rigging and unfair means to cast votes adopted by the rival party had led to the party’s defeat.

Talking to The Tribune, she said Bishnoi had enough support of the people to ensure his win, but booth capturing and unfair means in voting by the rival party had resulted in his defeat. When asked whether or not the party had complained to the Election Commission, she said the polling staff was also hands in glove with the rivals.

Meanwhile, crisis in the party is yet to tide over in the wake of drubbing in Hisar and the Sirsa parliamentary seat as party supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi had announced to resign from his post, taking moral responsibility for the defeat.

“Party workers have been holding a dharna at his residence against his decision, but he is firm on his decision to resign,” she said.

Sources in the party said, “It would take some time for the party leadership and workers to overcome the shock. But Bishnoi is in consultation with the senior party workers to review the situation after the debacle. He is likely to interact with the mediapersons in the next one or two days.”

The party leaders are tightlipped over the future of the alliance with the BJP. Political observers maintain that keeping alliance with the BJP has become more crucial for the HJC at this juncture. However, it is hard to predict the exact move of Kuldeep Bishnoi, who had taken several decisions in the past that did not prove politically effective.

Hisar, May 17
INLD candidate Dushyant Chautala registered a comfortable win over HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi in the Hisar parliamentary constituency and won by a margin of 31,847 votes.

Dushyant won comfortably due to the votes polled from Narnaund, Uklana and Uchana Kalan segments. He secured a whopping lead of 50,989 votes from Uchana Kalan segment, while Narnaund and Uklana were not far behind with leads of 42,344 and 32,647 votes over his nearest rival Bishnoi.

HJC nominee led in Hisar, Hansi, Nalwa, Barwala, Bawani Khera and Adampur, but these leads failed to overcome the invincible leads of the three Assembly segments. Kuldeep took lead by 16,191 votes from Adampur, 9,565 votes from Hansi, 13,114 votes from Barwala, 5,398 votes from Nalwa, 6,542 votes from Bawani Khera and 43,214 votes from Hisar. Both main contenders polled over 4 lakh votes-Dushyant 4,94,478 and Kuldeep 4,62,631- thereby ensuring that all other candidates in the fray lose their security deposits.

Out of 42, 40 candidates lost their deposit, including Sampat Singh of Congress, who secured 1,02,509 votes, and AAP candidate Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, who polled 28,490 votes. 

Hisar, May 17
Dushyant Chautala yesterday gave credit for his win to the INLD cadre. Dushyant said, “Credit goes to party workers who left no stone unturned. The party has got an overwhelming response in a majority of Assembly segments, which indicates that it has emerged stronger in this election.”

Reacting to Kuldeep Bishnoi's challenge of political 'sanyas' for the loser, Dushyant dared Bishnoi to walk the talk and quit politics. He claimed that Bishnoi had raised the pitch of caste politics. “People had given him an opportunity to work for the development of Hisar, but he failed miserably and remained inaccessible to the people and Parliament.”

He said, “There is no Narendra Modi wave in the interior areas of Haryana on NH-10.” — OC

Sirsa, May 17
Malkiat Singh Khosa, president of Sirsa District Congress Committee (DCC) has resigned from his post owning moral responsibility for Congress candidate Ashok Tanwar’s defeat in the parliamentary polls.

Khosa held the office bearers of the district unit of the party and senior Congress leaders, who were claimants of party tickets from various Assembly segments of Sirsa, responsible for Tanwar’s defeat.

He said Tanwar tried his best to bring central projects for Sirsa and remained among people most of the time. However, the failure of some “senior leaders” to mitigate problems of people in their respective constituencies let to his downfall in the elections, he said.

He said as District Congress Committee president for Sirsa, he has been holding meetings of party workers on the first day of every month. However, some “senior leaders” never bothered to attend these meetings and his complaints to the Haryana Pradesh Congress failed to work, he said.

Kaithal, May 17
The police have registered a case of cheating and criminal intimidation against a resident of Sunam town falling under Patiala district of Punjab for allegedly duping a rice mill owner from Kaithal of Rs 13 lakh.

Parvesh Khurania, director of Sheetal Rice Mills, Kaithal, yesterday lodged a complaint with the police stating that Ashok Kumar, a farmer of Sunam village, had taken Rs 13 lakh from him before the paddy season commenced last year.

He said Ashok had promised to supply paddy against the amount after the harvest.

However, he said, Ashok failed to turn up. He said after being constantly reminded of the deal, the farmer not only refused to refund the amount, but also threatened to kill him. The investigations are on. — OC

Kaithal, May 17
A special legal literacy camp was organised at the Mini Secretariat here today. District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Kaithal, had organised the camp for officials at grassroots level. Addressing the gathering of sarpanches, panches, anganwari workers, Asha workers, health workers, para-legal volunteers and panel advocates, Ritu Tagore, District and Sessions Judge-cum-chairperson, DLSA, said: "You can do better work for creating legal awareness at grassroots level specially in rural areas of the district."

She explained the benefit of alternative dispute resolution mechanism through which a common person could get his dispute resolved.

Gagan Deep Mittal CJM-cum-secretary (DLSA) said a front office had been established with a legal aid helpline number, 01746-235759, at the judicial complex, Kaithal, for giving legal aid and advice to the needy.

He said litigants could take recourse to proposed May 24 lok adalat in Kaithal. Narhari Singh Bangar Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kaithal, asked those present to serve the senior citizens, women, children and the needy.

He said a tribunal was functioning for the redressal of grievances of those parents who were not being looked after by their wards. Nearly 300 people attended the camp.

Arvind Khurania, district coordinator, DLSA, said 24 legal aid clinics have been established in different villages, urban areas, district jail, protection office and at DLSA's front office in Kaithal, where panel advocates and para-legal volunteers were helping the general public.

Sirsa, May 17
A local court in Sirsa has ordered the registration of a criminal case against yoga guru Ramdev for his comments against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

On a criminal complaint filed by advocate Sanju Bala, Chief Judicial Magistrate Balwant Singh has directed the police to register an FIR against Ramdev and investigate the case.

In her complaint, Sanju Bala alleged that Ramdev insulted the Dalit community with his comments during an election meeting in Lucknow on April 26.