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Tag: Haryana

  • Arvind Kejriwal to join AAP’s Haryana poll campaign with roadshow in Jagadhri

    New Delhi: AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will join the party’s campaign in pollbound Haryana with a roadshow in the Jagadhri constituency on September 20, AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said on Thursday. He will also participate in 13 events across 11 districts, covering the Dabwali, Rania, Bhiwani, Meham, Kalayat, Assandh and Ballabhgarh constituencies, among others, in the coming days, Pathak said at a press conference.

    “AAP national convenor Kejriwal has come out of jail after defeating the BJP’s conspiracy. Now he is fully prepared for the election campaign in Haryana and will start on September 20,” he said.

    His further campaign schedule will be announced later, he added. Kejriwal resigned as Delhi chief minister after being released from Tihar jail last week in the excise policy case. He will have a hectic campaign schedule in Haryana, which goes to the polls on October 5.

    The AAP is contesting all 90 seats in Haryana after talks with the Congress over a seatshare agreement broke down.

    It is clear that “the BJP is going to be completely wiped out from Haryana”, Pathak claimed. The BJP has governed Haryana since 2014. “The BJP itself did not trust its chief minister, so they removed Manohar Lal Khattar and made Nayab Singh Saini the new chief minister. The question that arises is why did the BJP need to bring in a new chief minister in the last year (of its term)?” Pathak asked.

    Alleging that unemployment was at its peak in Haryana and inflation was recordbreaking, he stressed that there was rampant “misgovernance” in the state.

    “Haryana first gave a chance to one party for five years, then to another for 10 years and then 10 years to a third party. Haryana gave a chance to all the parties, there is no party in Haryana that can say they have not got A chance. No one can complain,” Pathak said.

    Claiming that the other parties failed to serve the people, he said the voters were fed up with all the outfits.

    “This time, for the first time, Arvind Kejriwal has come to Haryana with AAP. So, a new and great option for change is in front of the people of Haryana. They have seen the work done by AAP in Punjab, and have seen the government of Delhi. After seeing everything, the people will go for a change and vote for Arvind Kejriwal’s new and honest politics,” he said.

    Elections to the 90member Haryana Assembly will be held on October 5 and the results declared on October 8.

  • Haryana assembly elections: BJP struggling to placate disgruntled state leaders

    Top BJP leaders, including Haryana CM Nayab Saini and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, have reached out to party rebels in Haryana, with limited success as they are adamant on contesting the assembly polls.

    Already faced with the uphill task of retaining power in Haryana, the BJP’s first list of 67 candidates added to its woes as more than a dozen leaders turned rebels while former minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Ratia MLA Lakshman Das Napa resigned from the party.

    BJP’s farmer wing chief Sukhwinder Sheoran and its OBC chief Karan Dev Kamboj also quit the party as they were denied tickets. Kamboj was eyeing a ticket from Indri.After his resignation, Saini reached out to him but Kamboj made his anger visible to Saini by not even shaking hands with him. On Sunday, Khattar met several disgruntled party leaders in Haryana. The BJP state leaders’ attempts to reach out to these rebels are not yielding much result as Kamboj has met Congress leader Bhupender Singh Hooda in Delhi.Similarly, sports minister and MLA from Sohna, Sanjay Singh, also indicated that he would contest elections as BJP. denied him a ticket. Famed singer Kanhaiya Mittal has also distanced himself from BJP as the party didn’t consider his request for a ticket. He is now eyeing to join the Congress. Saini and several top leaders of the BJP are reaching out to disgruntled leaders to calm them and keep them in the party fold.

    To balance the caste equation with more emphasis on OBCs, the BJP on Wednesday had announced 67 candidates. The list incudes 16 OBCs, 13 Jats, 13 SCs, 9 Brahmins, 8 Punjabis, 5 Baniyas, two Rajputs and a Sikh. Besides trying to balance the caste equations, the party has also made space for turncoats, which has not gone well with the party workers. The party has also tried to keep some of the prominent faces, who have switched to the BJP in the last decade or so like Rao Inderjit Singh and Kuldeep Bishnoi in good humor by taking them in the loop while deciding the tickets in their areas of influence. .

    Haryana power minister Ranjit Chautala convened a meeting of his supporters at Rania before announcing his decision. He had contested from Hisar Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket but lost. He was replaced with Shishpal Kamboj. BJP leader Shamsher Singh Kharkhara, contested from Meham in 2019, but lost and quit the party after he was denied the ticket. The BJP has fielded former Indian kabaddi team captain Deepak Hooda from Meham. Former MLA Bachan Singh Arya has also resigned from the BJP after JJP rebel Ram Kumar Gautam fielded from Safidon in Jind. Gautam was sitting MLA from Narnaund.

    Former Haryana minister Kavita Jain burst into tears after the party replaced her with Nikhil Madan from Sonepat. Madan recently switched to the BJP.

    Similarly, supporters of former minister Savitri Jindal, mother of Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal, urged her to contest as an Independent from Hisar. The BJP has fielded its sitting MLA Kamal Gupta from here.

  • Third Eye: Caught on wrong foot, handson minister & balance and flexibility

    Caught on wrong footMaharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole was in the news recently after a footage showed a party worker washing his dirty feet with his hands. Later, BJP leader Keshav Upadhyaye claimed that Patole might be floating in the air after Congress demonstration in the state and added that a famous dialogue might be going in Patole’s head: “Kabhi kabhi aisa lagta hain ke apunich bhagwan hai” (sometimes it feels like I am God).Handson ministerAs he took charge of the ministry of housing and urban affairs last week, former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal left no doubt that he will be a handson minister. In his first meeting with officers, Lal remarked he used to come to New Delhi and the ministry to get his state’s work done but now he would be expected to do the work. The next three days were spent in taking detailed presentations from all officers.Balance and flexibilityPreparations for International Yoga Day on June 21 is keeping the government and Union ministers on tenterhooks. Some ministers have even postponed routine meetings and felicitations to ensure everything is in order in districts/state capitals they will be present to participate in the morning session. First time ministers are especially enthusiastic. Even though all eyes will be on the PM’s Srinagar session, the big worry for others is that they should not be in the news for any faux pas or shortcoming.

  • Delhi Govt says Haryana has refused to release additional water |

    New Delhi: Amid the worsening water crisis in Delhi, the AAP government on Tuesday claimed that Haryana has expressed its inability to provide additional water to the national capital on humanitarian grounds.

    The BJP slammed the AAP dispensation, saying the Haryana government on Tuesday released data that showed it provided more than 17 per cent excess water to Delhi and claimed Water Minister Atishi was blaming the neighbouring state in a bid to hide her own flaw in addressing the issue of water shortage in the city.

    A Delhi government statement said its delegation solicited the release of additional water supplies on humanitarian grounds in a meeting with the Principal Secretary (Water Resources) of Haryana in Chandigarh.

    “Haryana government expressed its inability to release additional water to Delhi on humanitarian grounds,” it said.

    Atishi stressed the urgency of coordination to mitigate the current water emergency exacerbated by severe heat waves.

    The minister had last week requested Haryana to give additional water to Delhi on humanitarian grounds. The Upper Yamuna River Board had advised Delhi and Haryana to hold a bilateral meeting and consider whether Haryana could give extra water to Delhi, the statement said.

    Expressing disappointment, Atishi said that the “well-being of our citizens is at stake, and it is imperative that we receive this crucial support without delay”.

    Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the “dirty politics” of AAP was responsible for the water crisis in the city.

    “Haryana government has today released data showing that they have provided more than 17 per cent excess water to Delhi,” he said and alleged that “lying with confidence is the hallmark of Aam Aadmi Party leaders”.

    Sachdeva said that water theft and leaking pipeline system, which should have been fixed over the past 10 years, remain unresolved while Atishi continues to blame Haryana and the BJP to hide her flaws.

  • Social media accounts suspended, govt trying to suppress our voice: Farmer leader Pandher

    Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Friday accused the Center of trying to “suppress” the voices of the protesters, claiming social media accounts of farmers and YouTubers have been suspended. Protesting farmers have stayed put at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab’s border with Haryana for the fourth day after their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press the Center for various demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops, was stopped. by security forces which led to clashes.

    Union ministers and farmer leaders met on February 8, 12 and 15 to discuss the farmer unions’ demands but the talks remained inconclusive. The two sides will meet again on February 18 for a fourth round of talks.

    Talking to reporters on Friday, Pandher said that during the meeting with Union ministers a day ago, “we raised the issue of the suspension of Internet and Twitter (now X) handles of farmer leaders”. Also alleging that the government has suspended the accounts of around 70 YouTubers who were showing farmers’ protest, he said it appears “the government wants to suppress our voice.”

    Pandher said that during the talks with the Union ministers, they raised the issue of the use of “force” against farmers by the paramilitary personnel deployed at the PunjabHaryana border who fired tear gas shells at the protesters.

    He claimed that around 70 farmers have sustained serious injuries in an action by Haryana security personnel at Shambhu and Khanauri borders. The farmer leader said the talks with the Union ministers were held in a positive atmosphere and various demands of the protesters, including a law on MSP and debt waiver, were discussed. The government said they wanted to continue talks, Pandher said, adding that their ‘Delhi Chalo’ call still stands and the protesters were staying put at the PunjabHaryana border so that a solution emerges through talks.

    On Thursday, Pandher said during the meeting with ministers they raised the issue of tear gas shelling by the paramilitary forces on farmers at the Shambhu and Khanuri borders. He said they showed the shells to the ministers during the meeting.

    Haryana Police on Friday again fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesting farmers when they moved towards the barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala.

    Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal demanded the release of farmers who were either arrested or detained by the Haryana police.

    Besides a legal guarantee of MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 202021.

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