Chautala cashes in on Lok Sabha IOU

Five BJP MLAs could not reach Raj Bhavan on time but they had signed the letter of support submitted on behalf of their party. In effect, he has the support of 53 MLAs as two HVP(D) legislators, Charan Dass Shorewala and Vinod Kumar Marya, have been disqualified by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Chautala drove to Raj Bhavan in a cavalcade of over two dozencars from Haryana Niwas, where he emerged as a consensus candidate at a meeting of leaders of the INLD, the BJP, the HVP(D) and Independents.

The actual decision to support Chautala was taken in a city hotel early this morning after leaders of the INLD-BJP combine held a series of meetings with HVP defectors. Initially, Karan Singh Dalal and six others refused to support the INLD leader, hoping to form a government with support from the Congress and Bansi Lal.

However, they had to give in when they were outnumbered by former Minister Brij Mohan Singla and others, who didn’t want to align with the Congress. “That’s when the INLD-BJP leaders made the breakthrough. It was formalised at a meeting between Kartar Bhadana and Chautala early in the morning,” said an HVP(D) leader.

It is learnt that the HVP(D) has agreed to join the government but the BJP may give outside support. “The situation is still not clear. We need to consult the party high command. However, Chautala to keen that we join thegovernment,” said a senior BJP leader.

Chautala, who left for Delhi, is expected to meet Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill to discuss the possibility of changes in the state administration. Bansi Lal had resigned on June 21 after 13 of his ministers and another 10 MLAs dumped him after Congress withdrew its support on July 16.

After being invited by the Governor, Chautala said: “We are happy that we have succeeded in throwing out a dictator and prevented an opportunistic party from taking advantage of the situation.” Echoing this were Ram Bilas Sharma and Bhadana who said the main objective of the combination was to defeat the gameplan of the Congress and oust Bansi Lal.

For Chautala, this is the fourth time he will be sworn in as Chief Minister. Elder son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, Chautala won the Haryana Assembly election in 1970 for the first time. In 1987, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha after he led the then Lok Dal-BJP alliance to a massive victory in the June Assemblyelections in his state.

Chautala became Chief Minister of Haryana on December 2, 1989, but he had to demit office within six months following widespread violence in the Meham byelection in which he was a candidate. He again became Chief Minister on July 12, 1990, for the second time but his term lasted barely five days. He had to relinquish office in the wake of killing of an Independent candidate in the Meham by-election. He assumed office once again on March 22, 1991, but had to quit after a revolt in the party which reduced his government to a minority.