Cong leader & Devi Lal loyalist Sampat to attend rally

In what is seen as a political twist in Congress's politics in Hisar, former minister and senior Congress leader Sampat Singh will be attending the INLD rally in Rohtak. Singh had been associated with Devi Lal for a long time before shifting to the Congress under the leadership of Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Talking to 'The Tribune', he, however, denied that he was joining the party. “I have been an ardent follower of Devi Lal, who was my political guru. It's my tribute to him. Rohtak has been my political field when Chaudhary sahib rose to the ranks of Deputy PM in 1989,” he said.

Singh, a six-time MLA — once from the Congress, once as Independent and four times as Lok Dal candidate — said Devi Lal was one of Haryana’s tallest leaders and recounted the turbulent and defining moments that shaped his career in the Rohtak and Sonepat Lok Sabha seats in the early 1980s.

Recalling his initial foray into politics in 1977, Singh said he was a professor at DN College, Hisar, when he came in contact with Devi Lal. “When he became the CM in 1977, I went to greet him. And I was surprised that he immediately appointed me as a political adviser,” he said. Later, when Devi Lal entered the Lok Sabha via the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat in 1980, he resigned from the Bhattu Kalan Assembly constituency and asked him (Singh) to contest on Lok Dal ticket, but he lost.

He said in the 1982 Assembly polls, a faction within the party led to the sidelining of Devi Lal's loyalists and he too was denied the ticket. “Nevertheless, I contested as an Independent and won from Bhattu Kalan,” he said.

When Bhajan Lal took oath and poached MLAs from rival parties to form the government, Singh stood firm with Devi Lal. “I was offered ministry and other benefits but I couldn’t betray Devi Lal,” Singh said.