BJP withdraws support to Bansi Lal govt
by Gobind Thukral & Yoginder Gupta

CHANDIGARH, June 22 — In a day of swift political developments, the Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, today asked the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, to prove his majority in the Assembly by June 25. This follows the withdrawal of support by the 11-member BJP group, a coalition partner in the 37-month old government.

Soon the BJP legislators, lead by their leader, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, met the Governor and informed him in writing that the party has withdrawn support to the Haryana government and that the government had been reduced to a minority. The Governor spoke to the Chief Minister who has not been keeping well and is confined to bed since June 17 and asked if he could come and discuss the latest political situation as his government had been reduced to a minority.

The Chief Minister later met him at 5 p.m. and asserted that he has a majority support and was ready to prove it on the floor of the House. There should be no head counting anywhere and horse trading should not be encouraged. Democratic norms demanded that the majority should be tested on the floor of the House," sources said quoting Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Prasad said he could test his majority by June 25. He would not like to delay it further.

In Delhi, the Congress reacted fast and extended an indirect support to the Bansi Lal Government. A former Union Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who is in charge of the Congress affairs in Haryana issued a cryptic statement. He said:

"By withdrawing support from the Bansi Lal Government, the BJP has proved once again how untrustworthy they are as an ally. Now they are trying to form a government with Mr Chautala's Lok Dal by indulging in horse trading. The decision whether the Chief Minister has lost the confidence in the House should be tested on the floor of the House alone, not by head counts. The Congress Party will try to prevent the formation of a government by the BJP-Chautala combine".

This would clearly mean that on June 25 when the Chief Minister faces the Assembly to prove his majority, the 12-member Congress Party would bail him out. While Mr Bansi Lal's son, Mr Surendra Singh, was active in mustering support from the Congress, Haryana Congress leaders like Mr Bhajan Lal were trying to stop this. But finally those who wished to stall any INLD-BJP Government succeeded.

This could help the beleaguered HVP leader to ward off defections. HPV sources said that not more than four legislators could try to defeat and since any anti-defection law required one third of the members to walk away, the figure of 12 still remained elusive.

What price the Congress would demand from Mr Bansi Lal is as yet not clear. It could be part of the coalition or the two parties could just merge or the Congress could keep extending outside support. It is clear that it would try to save the government and thus prevent another coalition under Mr Sharma or Mr Chautala to come up.

At another level, the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who had been instrumental in getting the support of Mr Chautala for the BJP Government in Delhi has taken a word from the Prime Minister that the party would part company with the HVP, he was said to be more than satisfied at the withdrawal of support.

While talking to TNS as soon as Mr Bansi Lal was informed of the withdrawal of support by the BJP, the Chief Minister said the BJP had stabbed him in the back. "First they tried through some politicians inimical to the HVP-BJP coalition to break the HVP. This went for quite some time and failed miserably. Later they tried many other ways. But again failed. Now the BJP leaders have withdrawn the support. I had given them no chance to withdraw the support and the coalition was working smoothly. But two MLAs, including Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, were deadset against the HVP. They were in league with the INLD leader, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. This act is most heinous and against all democratic norms. If the BJP leaders in Delhi had ascertained the views of the BJP MLAs here, they would have known the opinions and I had an overwhelming support", he said.

The Chief Minister said he was not surprised but failed to understand the approach of the BJP, which always boasted of high political morality. "It is all sham. Where is the inner party democracy. I know that except one senior leader others wanted the coalition to continue. But some people whose ambition could not be fulfilled had other designs", he said. Asked to identify that one leader, Mr Bansi Lal said: "Everyone knows that. I do not have to say it right now". The BJP has demonstrated the worst kind of political opportunism. After enjoying power for over 37 months, now they find me bad. People would judge who has been sincere", he added.

The Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, yesterday spoke to the Chief Minister on the phone from Delhi. First, he asked him whether he would be coming to the inauguration ceremony of the Panipat refinery, Mr Bansi Lal told him that he had not been keeping well and was confined to bed since June 17 and if the doctors permitted, he would be there on June 23 and attend the function on June 24.

Then the Prime Minister touched upon the issue of political activity. Mr Bansi Lal is believed to have told him that on his part he had not met anyone in the BJP during the past some weeks. What to say of hobnobbing with the Congress. He said the ball was in his court and as some of BJP leaders were hobnobbing and spreading canards. Sources said that it was a pleasant conversation and was clear that senior Petroleum Ministry officers who had met the Chief Minister three days ago had reported to the Prime Minister about the illness of the Chief Minister.

Earlier after submitting the letter of withdrawal of support to the Bansi Lal Government, the BJP Vice-President, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, and the Leader of the Haryana BJP Legislature Party, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, told newsmen that the Parliamentary Board of the BJP had decided to withdraw the support on June 8 itself. But it was left to Prime Minister Vajpayee to announce the decision.

When reports appeared in newspapers about the impending merger of the HVP with the Congress and no denial came from the HVP, the BJP decided to act to "protect the popular mandate of 1996 which was against the Congress Government in the state". Mr Vajpayee, they said, authorised Mr Krishan Lal to convene a meeting of the Haryana BJP MLAs and formally announce the decision to withdraw support. All the 11 BJP MLAs attended the meeting held in the party office in MLA Flats here, which lasted for about one hour.

The one-line resignations of the seven BJP ministers were sent to the Chief Minister through the party's permanent office secretary, Mr Gulshan Bhatia. The resignations were received by the Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr D.S. Dhesi, at the Chief Minister's residence.

Mr Krishan Lal said the BJP would make every attempt to form a non-Congress government in the state. He said despite the BJP raising certain issues of public interest with Mr Bansi Lal the latter did not pay any heed. This resulted in massive erosion of public support for the HVP-BJP Government, resulting in a near rout of the alliance in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections in Haryana.

He said the Haryana BJP chief, Mr Om Prakash Grover, and Mr Ram Bilas had been authorised to decide the future course of action.

Meanwhile, two leading HVP dissidents, Mr Narbir Singh and Mr Brij Mohan Singla, said besides their two colleagues, Mr Jagan Nath and Mrs Krishna Gehlawat there were many party MLAs who were opposed to the HVP's merger with the Congress. They also criticised the HVP leadership's move to call a meeting of the Legislature Party at the residence of the Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, Prof Chhattar Singh Chauhan.

The HVP dissidents urged the Governor that in view of the "biased behaviour" of the Speaker and the abdication of his Constitutional duties by involving himself in the party politics, he should not be allowed to preside over the session of the House on June 25 when Mr Bansi Lal would try to prove his majority. Instead the Deputy Speaker, Mr Faqir Chand Aggarwal, should be asked to preside over the session. Mr Aggarwal, who belongs to the BJP, has been exempted from resigning by the party.

Mr Narbir Singh and Mr Singla, were talking to newsmen at advocate Mohan Jain's residence which had been the nerve centre of the dissident activities.

Meanwhile, another HVP dissident, Mr Jagan Nath, said the BJP was forced to withdraw support because of the unpopularity of Mr Bansi Lal. Whichever party or person would ally with Mr Bansi Lal would be politically doomed, he averred.

The Whip and the Spokesman of the Haryana CLP, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, said the BJP Ministers, chairmen and legislators enjoyed the fruits of power for three years and indulged in "naked acts" of self-service, and now the party had withdrawn support in yet another instance of double speak and policy of betrayal that "BJP-RSS culture has symbolised over the years."

Seventeen HVP and Independent Ministers in a joint statement criticised the BJP for its betrayal and said it would be wiped out in the Lok Sabha elections because the people would never forgive it for this treachery.

The ministers said the HVP government was in a majority. Those signed the statement were Mrs Kanta Devi, Mr Satya Narain Lather, Mr Ram Saroop Rama, Mr Jagdish Yadav, Mr Attar Singh Saini, Mr Ram Bhajan Aggarwal, Mr O.P. Mahajan, Mr Birender Singh Kadiyan, Mr Bhim Sein Mehta, Dr Dharmvir Yadav, Mr Jaswant Singh Bawal, Mr Kanwal Singh, Mr Harsh Kumar, Mr Subhash Chaudhary, Mr Jagbir Singh Malik, Mr Karan Singh Dalal and Mr Ramesh Kaushik.

The Indian National Lok Dal welcomed the BJP decision, but described it as "belated."

The resignation of all the BJP ministers were accepted by the Governor this evening on the recommendation of the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, the HVP dissidents have stepped up their activities to wean away as many of their colleagues as possible from the ruling party. According to informed sources, they are telling their ministerial colleagues that as is clear from Goa, the Congress has decided not to allow more than 10 per cent of the MLAs to become ministers. Therefore, once the HVP merged with the Congress, many of the ministers would have to quit.

However, ministerial sources ridiculed the claims of the dissidents and described them as a "frustrated lot".

Faridabad (TNS): The move to have a tie up between the Congress and the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) has evoked strong opposition from both Congress leaders and rank and file of the party.

However, none of the leaders are prepared to come out in the open for fear of inviting the wrath of the high command.

A senior Congress leader of Haryana claimed that the entire party was united not to allow Mr Bansi Lal to rejoin the Congress. He warned if the high command took the decision against their wishes the Congress would lose its base and affect adversely the poll prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

A former Haryana minister said as Mr Bansi Lal had lost credibility in Haryana he would prove to be a liability rather than an asset for the Congress. He described the proposal as an unwise step.

A member of the executive committee of the Haryana Pradesh Congress alleged that certain leaders were misguiding Mrs Sonia Gandhi to believe that Mr Bansi Lal’s entry would be beneficial to the party. Instead it would root the Congress out from the state as the decision would only help Mr Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal.

Party sources said here the high command was now weighing the pros and cons of the proposal and a final decision was expected in a day or two.

Cong to oppose BJP-INLD govt
From K.V. Prasad
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 22 — The Congress Party today chose to keep the cards close to its chest while asserting it would try to prevent formation of an alternate government by the BJP-INLD combine in Haryana.

The Congress, whose help is being sought by the beleaguered Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) leadership to bail them out of the present situation, has remained non-committal.

The AICC General Secretary, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, incharge of the party affairs in the state, said a decision whether the Chief Minister had lost the confidence in the House should be tested on the floor of the House alone and not by headcount. "The Congress Party will try to prevent formation of a government by the BJP-Chautala combine".

The party refused to commit itself as to what would be its attitude if the Bansi Lal government sought a fresh vote of confidence. The party spokesman, Mr Ajit Jogi, said it would depend as to how the situation developed. There were reports of informal parleys between the HVP and the Congress at the higher echelons with Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Pranab Mukherjee being the key interlocutors with the HVP leadership and its representative in Delhi, Mr Surender Singh.

There is a strong resistance from the state unit leaders of the Congress, including the HPCC President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, on any proposal which shows the Congress having a cosy relationship with the HVP. Mr Hooda today told The Tribune that the party would decide its stand at an appropriate time keeping in mind the interests of the people of Haryana and that of the party.

He said he had briefed the party high command of the latest political situation in the state.

Mr Hooda also criticised Mr Chautala for his inconsistent relationship with the BJP and charged that the INLD at one time had termed the BJP as "anti-farmer" and "anti-people".

Meanwhile, the Congress charged that by withdrawing support from the Bansi Lal government, the BJP had proved once again "how untrustworthy they are as an ally".

The party charged that the BJP was trying to form a government with Mr Chautala's INLD by indulging in horse-trading.

To a question as to whether the Congress would prefer to have a merger or an outside support to bail out the government, Mr Mukherjee said it was not a question of preference but how things unfold.

Meanwhile, there was a suggestion that the party could bail the government out in case it sought a vote of confidence and later pave the way for fresh Assembly elections. However, none of the leaders were willing to comment on such a scenario stating it was premature. It is apparent the Congress party would like to know what cards would Mr Bansi Lal unveil before they show their hand.

Delayed, but right step: Chautala
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, June 22 — The Leader of the Indian National Lok Dal, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, today described the decision of the BJP to withdraw support to the three year old Bansi Lal Government as a "delayed, but a right step."

Seeking the dismissal of the Bansi Lal Government, which he claimed had gone into minority, he said it had paid for its anti-people, undemocratic and unethical policies.

Mr Chautala, who was addressing a meeting of party leaders at the house of a local leader of the party was non-committal when asked about his future cause of action amid the changed political scenario in Haryana. He evaded most of the queries about the possible political alignments in wake of the BJP withdrawal of support.

Describing the decision to withdraw its support to the HVP as a internal issue of the BJP, he said : " From now on BJP would not be a party to the deeds of the Bansi Lal government". Without indicating the options being considered by his party, he predicted a big change in the political scene of Haryana.

When the news about the withdrawal of support to the HVP came Mr Chautala was addressing a meeting of former MPs, MLAs, members of the state executive committee, presidents of district units and members of other block level bodies here.

Soon after the meeting when he was came to address mediapersons at a scheduled press conference he said: "Nothing can be predicted at the moment. We are closely watching the development and will decide the future course of action accordingly".

Earlier, addressing the party leaders he disclosed that an observer had been appointed in each district to look after the poll campaign and to strengthen the party base at the grass-roots level.

At least one observer each had been appointed in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Sonepat, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Hisar, Sirsa, Faridabad and Mahendragarh districts. The observers have been empowered to expel any party man who worked against the interests of the party.