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This is an archive article published on May 9, 2004

In their sons146; names

Everything is fair in the battle here, as three fathers 8212; Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and former chief ministers Bansi Lal and B...

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Everything is fair in the battle here, as three fathers 8212; Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and former chief ministers Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal 8212; burn the midnight oil, trying to send their sons to the Lok Sabha. The voters, in the process, are served a heady mix of bragging and political abuse.

Chautala8217;s son Ajay, who is defending the seat, is at his boastful best as he talks to villagers in the Tosham area of the constituency. His agenda is simple: 8216;8216;You people just vote for me and I will find a lasting treatment for leaders of Haryana Vikas Party led by Bansi Lal. You may grind them and put them into your eyes like surma, I promise, they would not irk you even one bit.8217;8217; A reference to Bansi Lal is inevitable because his son Surinder Singh is pitted against him.

8216;8216;This Bansi Lal and his son babu-beta could not stand even the smell of people, but I have forced them to rub their noses at doorsteps of people and ask for votes,8217;8217; he says.

There is some ammunition for Bhajan Lal too. 8216;8216;You would not find anyone who would lie as much as him. His game is up. His son Kuldeep Bishnoi Congress candidate is bound to lose and he would be forced to resign as Haryana Congress president within 15 days,8217;8217; he says.

The elder Chautala tells voters during his whirlwind tour of 48 villages of the constituency: 8216;8216;You just lend me your support and I would level all. I will make the Centre dance. I will force a closure of Bansi Lal8217;s shop. Don8217;t worry about development 8212; I will send a sackful of rupees for it to your village after the poll.8217;8217;

Chautala talks about cash, but Bhajan Lal is more diplomatic. He tells people at a public meeting in the Vikas Nagar area: 8216;8216;My son is a blank cheque. You may write an amount of your choice for development works. Take me for my word 8212; this cheque would never bounce. You have tried sons of Bansi Lal and Chautala, try mine too.8217;8217; The Congress posters also say: 8216;8216;Jan-jan ki hai yehi pukar, Kuldeep Bishnoi ab ki baar.8217;8217;

Kuldeep is virtually promising the moon to voters. 8216;8216;You elect me once and I will shower you with development works.8217;8217; This, when an MP gets just Rs 2 crore a year under the Local Area Development scheme.

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Bansi Lal throws up an impossible proposition. He tells a rally at Charkhi Dadri8217;s Qila Maidan: 8216;8216;I will support the Congress if it makes Manmohan Singh the prime minister.8217;8217; Wonder, whether the Congress would respond.

Surinder Singh talks in terms of future polls too. 8216;8216;If Ajay Chautala runs away to another constituency in the next poll, I would fight against him there too,8217;8217; he says. Amid all this bragging, a this slogan written on a wall of Chautala8217;s election office at Siwani Mandi takes the cake: 8216;8216;Ajay nahin yeh aandhi hai, doosara Mahatma Gandhi hai.8217;8217;

 

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