Congress

Elections to the Haryana State Assembly Election Jan-Mar 2005

Congress manifesto is all about Chautala-bashing

The much-awaited manifesto released by the Congress party in Haryana Monday turned out to be an event for criticising the Om Prakash Chautala government in the state.

The party's 15-page document on what it wanted to do for the state and its people if voted to power in fact devoted most space to Chautala-bashing.

Haryana Congress leaders Bhajan Lal and Birender Singh released the document in the presence of former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

Terming the Feb 3 election as a watershed in Haryana's political history, the manifesto highlighted the "complete anarchy, corruption and unmanageable crisis in all sectors".

It blamed Chief Minister Chautala and his sons - Ajay and Abhay - of amassing millions of rupees in cash, properties and other assets. It said the Chautala government did incalculable harm to Haryana in five years.

The manifesto, prepared by a committee headed by convener Birender Singh, listed various steps that the Congress would take to bring the Haryana back on the path to development.

Even on the sensitive issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to bring Ravi and Beas river waters to areas in Haryana, it chose to blame the Chautala government for failing to put up the state's case before the Supreme Court properly to get annulled the termination of water agreement, done unilaterally by Punjab.

The manifesto, while blaming Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal for vowing not to give a single drop of water to Haryana, ignored the fact that the water agreement termination bill was brought by a Congress government in Punjab.

Addressing newsmen, state Congress chief Bhajan Lal said if the Congress government came to power, it would register cases against Chautala and his family members and other Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders for indulging in corruption.

"We have already submitted a charge sheet on corruption by the Chautala government and we will go ahead to register cases. There is no need to investigate the corruption charges by setting up a commission," Bhajan Lal said.

Referring to a number of senior Congress leaders being in the race to be chief minister, Bhajan Lal said that everyone had a right in a democratic set up to stake such a claim.

"The party and elected legislators would decide the chief minister when the time comes," he added.