Khattar, FM corner Abhay

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8

Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala was cornered on more than one occasion by the Treasury Benches, especially Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu, on the fourth day of the Assembly here today.

During his reply to the debate on Governor’s Address, Khattar targeted Abhay repeatedly, forcing the latter to beat a hasty retreat.

Apparently hinting at the INLD’s rally on the SYL issue in New Delhi yesterday, Khattar advised the Opposition to refrain from using it as a ladder to climb to power.

Abhay was again in the firing line on his reported statements urging the people not to pay power bills.

Abhay was at a loss for words when Khattar retorted that Sirsa, the fiefdom of Devi Lal clan, was one district where people had started paying pending power arrears despite Abhay’s efforts to the contrary.

This prompted Capt Abhimanyu to take a dig at Abhay, saying that even the people of Sirsa, the pocket borough of the Chautalas, had now starting refraining from heeding to the Chautalas’ advice, a sign of Devi Lal clan’s reducing influence.

On another occasion, when Khattar was bragging about transparency in government job recruitment, Abhay was on his feet, raising a point of order. Khattar outsmarted him again, asserting that he could not afford to bend rules for a particular section of society and risking a jail term, hinting at INLD supreme Om Prakash Chautala’s 10-year jail term in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam.

Abhay, on his part, disrupted the Chief Minister’s address many a time, putting across his point of view. However, Khattar and Capt Abhimanyu clearly outwitted him time and again.