K’shetra MPputs BJP on notice, eyes 2019 poll

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 1

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini, who had stoked controversy by his statements against Jat reservation in Haryana, today put his party on notice saying he is preparing for the 2019 elections.

He announced here the launch of preparations of his Kurukshetra rally on November 28 from today.

“I can go to any extent in the interest of those sections of society who have been relegated backward politically by one caste group,” Saini said. He did not make a direct mention, but left no one in doubt that he was referring to Jats.

To a query that whether or not his moves were backed by the BJP, he said: “I am an open book. It is for all to read. I am with those sections of society who feel they are being bullied.”

Surrounded by supporters who had called on him at his residence here to wish him on his birth day today, MPSaini said, “I am preparing for the 2019 elections.”

Saini, however, refused to dwell further on the matter. In 2019, Lok Sabha elections are due followed by Assembly elections in Haryana.

The hard line of Saini assumes significance in the context of the BJP government’s commitment to grant reservation to Jats in Haryana.

BJPMPRajkumar Saini announced the launch of preparations for his proposed Kurukshetra rally scheduled for November 28 on the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, 19th century social reformer of Maharashtra.

He had organised a well-attended rally on the same day last year in Delhi. Non-Congress OBC leaders from across the country had attended the rally. The focus was to rally support against Jat reservation.

The proposed rally, Saini said, had been christened as “Sammanta Rally” to stress on the equality of all sections of society. It is being organised under the aegis of the Loktantra Suraksha Manch, of which he is the president.

He claimed that other than people of from Haryana, special invitees from other parts of the country would attend the rally.

District conveners of the mach have been appointed. The district- and bloc-level bodies will be constituted soon to mobilise support for the rally.

He thanked the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court for striking down governments’ decisions to provide Jats with reservation.