Power tariff, jat quota in focus at INLD rally
ROHTAK: Haryana’s main opposition party, Indian National Lokdal (INLD) on Sunday appealed to the people not to pay their electricity bills till the state government rolled back the hike in power tariff. The party also announced to give reservation to jats if it returned to power in the state.
These announcements were made by the leader of opposition in state assembly Abhay Singh Chautala in party’s ‘Samman Rally’ organized in Rohtak on Sunday. The rally was to commemorate the birth anniversary of party’s founder and former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.
Terming the Manhohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government as ‘dogli sarkar’ (government with dual standards), Abhay accused government of snatching away the reservation of jats and four other castes in the state. He also announced that if INLD came into power, they would provide 10% special reservation for jats, jat sikhs, Rod, Tyagi and Bishnoi communities, on the lines of Tamil Nadu.
He also announced that if Khattar government did not refund Rs 200 per quintal charged by the state government on sale of paddy at the price of Rs 1,450 per quintal from farmers, the party would launch statewide protests.
National president of INLD’s students wing, Indian National Student Organization (INSO), Digvijay Chautala demanded that Bharat Ratna award be conferred on Devi Lal for his contribution towards the farming community of the country and elevation of Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal as the next President of India. He announced that INSO would launch a signature campaign demanding country’s highest civil award for Devi Lal. Party state president Ashok Arora accused the Khattar government of shutting down the state’s power plants and purchasing power from Adani Group to benefit the corporate house.
Party leaders also claimed that former CM and party supremo Om Prakash Chautala was sent to jail through a conspiracy because he had exposed the land scam by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law. Prominent among others who attended the rally were: Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal; leader of Gujarat’s Patidar movement leader Hardik Patel’s representative, Akhliesh Katiyar; spokesperson of Janata Dal (United) and MP K C Tyagi; and INLD MP Dushyant Chautala.
Though, the birthday of former deputy PM Devi Lal falls on September 25, but the party celebrates it on November 1, to mark his contribution in creating the separate state of Haryana on November 1, 1966.
Important Box:
Prominent faces of other parties missing
Except for Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, no prominent leader was present at the rally. Party had claimed that former Jammu and Kashmir CM, Farookh Abdullah, Andhra Pradesh CM Chander Babu Naidu, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, JDU leader Sharad Yadav and former PM H D Devegowda would attend the rally. It was for the first time that eminent leaders from other states were not present at INLD’s much talked about annual event. The party, however, managed to gather huge crowds for rally
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Power-tariff-jat-quota-in-focus-at-INLD-rally/articleshow/49626153.cms