Haryana: Dissolution on cards
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — The possibility of Haryana having Assembly elections early next year along with the scheduled poll in Bihar, Orissa and Manipur, has brightened with the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, his public utterances notwithstanding, having indicated to the Prime Minister that he is likely to recommend dissolution of the present Vidhan Sabha in the next few days.

Mr Chautala is understood to have conveyed this to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee when he called on the Prime Minister here late last week.

According to sources, in Mr Chautala’s calculation, the alliance stands to benefit from the present scenario in which the Congress is a divided house — the main focus of the party being to find a replacement of the HPCC chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. And the ousted Haryana Vikas Party is a truncated outfit confined to a close circle around Mr Bansi Lal and his son Mr Surinder Singh.

Mr Chautala, who has been trying to broaden his base to make it “Jat plus” to replicate Mr Bhajan Lal’s political strategy, is keen to consolidate the present gains before the Congress reactivates itself, or the disenchantment with Mr Bansi Lal withers.

Mr Chautala’s reasons are not purely political. In fact, they are primarily economic. As the state, like most other states, is passing through acute pecuniary strangulations, he would like to get a fresh mandate before embarking on unpopular fiscal measures which are inevitable in the next Budget.

The Indian National Lok Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are understood to have reached an agreement for seat-sharing by which, while Mr Chautala’s party will contest 55 seats, 35 seats would go to the BJP quota.

The results of the last Lok Sabha poll in which the INLD-BJP alliance made a clean sweep in Haryana by winning all 10 seats, saw the alliance leading in the 85 of the 90 Assembly segments. In view of the fragility of the present arrangement in the Vidhan Sabha which has been cobbled up after effecting defections, a thinking began about the feasibility of holding fresh elections so that the government of the alliance does not continue to be threatened by political uncertainty.

It is understood that although Mr Chautala would have preferred to go in for dissolution somewhere in January, after completing his tour of each district of Haryana, the problem of logistics, especially with the Election Commission, may force the pace of the decision.

Senior BJP party leaders in Delhi have also indicated that elections to Haryana state Assembly are round the corner and at least two meetings were held between the INLD and BJP leaders in Delhi last week.

Sources said that a preliminary list of constituencies which were to be left to the BJP had been drawn up. Despite the belligerency shown by the state BJP at its recent conclave, at the central-level the INLD-BJP ties are smooth and thus this may pave the way for the dissolution of the state Assembly and fresh elections.

Chautala says otherwise
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, Dec 13— Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today ruled out the possibility of mid-term assembly polls in the state. He said that the elections would be held as scheduled.

The Chief Minister was talking to mediapersons at Ratan Dera, 5 km from here.

He made it clear that under constitutional provisions, the tenure of the state assembly was of five years and 18 months of the tenure of the present Haryana Assembly remained.

Mr Chautala said all decisions regarding policy matters were being taken collectively by the INLD and its ally the BJP. Replying to a question he said snap polls could be held if and when the BJP desired them.

In reply to another question, the Chief Minister said all announcements made in his ‘open darbars’ would be implemented without any delay and he would conduct surprise checks to monitor that the work was executed. Officers found guilty of lapses would be punished.

He said he believed in work and not announcements and ridiculed Mr Bansi Lal for his tall promise of round-the-clock power.

Announcement of prospective candidates would be made only after the announcement of elections he said adding that Red Cross fairs had been banned to curb gambling.

He also redressed the grievances of 73 panchayats of Thanesar and said his government would formulate a new policy on the slab-system for tubewells which would be beneficial to farmers.

The state government was committed to providing sufficient power to the public he said and expressed gratitude to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee for his help in arranging power from other states like Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab. He said the government has decided to remove electric transmission lines from above ponds, schools and houses, to avoid mishaps.

A fresh survey would be conducted on old age pension he said and the conditions set by the previous government had been removed.

He announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh to Thanesar Municipal Committee besides Rs 10 lakh from the M.P. area fund. He also sanctioned a sum of Rs 10 lakh for Ladwa town and approved a girls college at Hindu High School, Ladwa.