Chandigarh, March 6: Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal has categorically denied the allegation levelled by the former Chief Minister and Haryana Lok Dal (R) supremo, Om Parkash Chautala that he was trying to rejoin Congress party after the defeat of the ruling Haryana Vikas Party (HVP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent poll in Haryana.On the other hand, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president of the Haryana Congress, reacting to the statement said that the defeat of Devi Lal and son Ajay Chautala in the recent elections has baffled Chautala who alleged that Bansi Lal was trying to re-enter Congress using the good offices of Hooda.In a statement Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal said that the allegations of Chautala were ``totally untrue''.He said that Chautala had been making this charge ever since the day he (Bansi Lal) was expelled from the Congress to form Haryana Vikas Party posing a serious challenge to Devi Lal and his clan in the state.Bansi Lal alleged that Chautala, who was a past master in political double standards, was in the habit of hobnobbing with Congressmen like Bhajan Lal. He further said that it was clearly demonstrated in the Lok Sabha poll when Chautala had put up a weak candidate from his party against Bhajan Lal in Karnal. He said that collusion between Chautala and Bhajan Lal was also proved by the fact that Bhajan Lal got 51,000 votes polled for Chautala's son Ajay Chautala in his home assembly segment of Adampur whereas, the Cong candidate got only 4200 votes.Bansi Lal stated that he had always stood by his allies through thick and thin and this had also been proved by the recent events. In a statement, state Congress chief Hooda said that he had been fighting against these `Lals' of Haryana, who in his view, had tarnished the image of the state by engineering defections and resorting to other dubious manipulations to retain their `gaddi'.Commenting on the support extended by Chautala to the BJP to form the government at the Centre, Hooda said that Chautala wants to hammer out an opportunist alliance between communal and casteist forces with the sole aim to capture power. He said that Haryana Congress would not allow him to capture power through unprincipled and unholy alliances.Referring to an earlier statement said to have been issued by Bhajan Lal promising support to Chautala to become Chief Minister of the state, Hooda said that nobody was authorised to issue such statements as such decisions are taken by the Congress Working Committee.Hooda claimed that Congress would have bagged at least eight seats had certain leaders not sabotaged the election prospects of some party candidates due to personal vendetta.
